


The boy in the bunny PJs

by kandykrystalapple, keehal



Category: South Park
Genre: Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-10-11 15:50:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17449853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kandykrystalapple/pseuds/kandykrystalapple, https://archiveofourown.org/users/keehal/pseuds/keehal
Summary: Mysterion, the terror to all villains, must juggle being a hero and being a guardian for a child in bunny pajamas





	1. A mysterious meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Au based on adult Ken having a father son bond with a kid Butters and I want to keep it like that

It was another stormy night, Mysterion had just got done solving a crime at the bank. Nothing too big, just two idiots trying to get away with a bag of money. Same ol same ol. The man let out a sigh, he’s been doing this for a good...15 years nows. Sometimes he wished these guys would spice it up a bit. What he’d do to get a real heart racer, a real thrill! Not the usual dumbasses who, for one thing try to do the crime on foot which would usually lead to them running around a corner into a alleyway and yada yada yada! God, just thinking about the cycle was making him more exhausted then he already was. He couldn’t wait to get back to his apartment to finally rest for the day!  
With a yawn, he started to make his way down to a street. Wait...this didn’t look familiar, The vigilante tried to look around, but the damn rain was making it hard! One things for sure, this definitely wasn’t the same houses he passed by. “Fuck, took a wrong turn” Great...just his luck! Welp, it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice. Silently cursing, Mysterion raised his cape over his head as he pulled out his phone. He prayed wherever the hell he was it wasn’t too far from his place. After a minute he was finally able to get a signal and use the map app.  
Huh, it seemed wherever he was it wasn’t too far! In fact, it seemed his apartment was only behind the houses!  
“Finally, something good came out of all of this” Heck, maybe he could start taking this route for now on! Though there was still one problem…  
The apartment was right behind the the houses. But it seemed it'd take a good minute if he stuck to the sidewalk. “Somebody’s gonna be real pissed if they see me running through their backyard…” He thought. Sure he could just stay on the sidewalk...but that would take longer! He looked around the area, there was no kind of porch light on as far as he could see.  
“There’s...no way anyone will notice. I’ll only be in the yard for a second” The man had made up his mind, taking off behind the house he just happened to be standing by. “Okay, just gonna hop the fence and I’ll be outta here” He made a mad dash for the fence, before something caught his eye. A shed of some sort, the darn thing looked a mess, it looked like it had old worn out wood, and never been painted in years! That thing looked like it been through a fucking war! As much as he wanted to sit there and make fun of the poor excuse for a shed. He could hear his bed calling him. Mysterion finally made it to the fence, he was about to climb over until he heard a faint noise. His ears perked up immediately, it almost sounded like...someone crying? But where was it coming from? It was really hard to pinpoint the noise with the rain pouring down. The hero in him was coming out as he began to walk around trying focus with all his might, trying to get a good listen. Until finally, his ears led him to the shed. Yep, that was definitely someone crying on the other side. The masked man went up to the door, he was about to reach for the handle before he hesitated. Maybe he shouldn't...he had just got done catching some robbers and he just wanted to go home and relax...but...curiosity got the best of him as he slowly opened the door. He peeked around, there was no one there. That was odd...could've sworn there was-- his ears perked up again as he heard the crying. He entered the shed, looking around until he saw it. What seemed to be a tattered up blanket, squirming about in the corner. The vigilante cautiously walked up to the blanket, with a deep breath, he closed his eyes before yanking it back. With the blanket now in his hand, Mysterion slowly opened his eyes. His eyes grew big with shock. There laying in the corner was a child, a little blonde boy. He seemed to be wearing some kind of light blue bunny suit, it was easy to tell it was with the little fluffy white tail.  
The masked hero was just shocked, the kid looked no more than about 5 or 6! What on earth was he doing out here? Unfortunately, the man didn’t get to wonder for long. The child’s cries began to dull as he slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing a person doesn’t expect to when they open their eyes see is some strange person in front of them. Doesn’t help it was a very tall fella, and he wasn’t santa claus. For a minute the two just looked at each other. Mysterion, awkwardly looking as if he was caught sneaking into his bedroom pass curfew. The child looking as if he just witnessed a murder.  
After nothing was said for a while, The vigilante cleared his throat. Okay, stay calm, don’t freak the poor kid or anything. He gave a friendly wave.  
“He--” All of a sudden the child screamed bloody murder. Mysterion tried his best to calm the kid down but it was like every movement he made made the child freakout more as it coward more into the corner. It wasn’t long before it started to cry for it’s mom. Ah shit... the last thing the vigilante needed was to go to jail tonight for breaking and entering a raggedy ass shed. The thing was, he was never good with kids...No one except his sister-- Wait a second, a lightbulb went off in his head! It was a long shot...but it worked for his sister….maybe it might work here.  
With a deep breath, he slowly approached the child, which of course made it scream louder. Man, he was just praying this would work before a parent actually did come out here. Come to think of it...where was the parents? Nevermind that, focusing on not going to prison.  
Once he walked over to the child, Mysterion did a little sidestep, to make sure there was a nice enough gap between them, and then sat down criss cross. He then proceeded to look straight ahead. It was an old trick he did when his sister was scared. Giving her the choice to let him comfort her, giving her space to her let cry until she was fully prepared to come to him. Of course, that was his sister. How this kid would respond, he definitely didn’t know. But he could only hope for the best. 

The child watched the strange man’s every move, crying hard as the man was now next to him. What was this person doing here? Was he going to hurt him? Where was his mom?  
“MOMMY!” He cried out again. He covered his eyes, as he began to shake.  
Seeing how scared this kid was actually hurt Mysterion.  
Of course, he was suppose to put fear in the hearts of all evil. But the last thing he wanted was to scare a child. Especially as young as this one. Most kids adored the mysterious hero, most would usually cheer happily when they got to occasionally get a glance of him jumping from roof to roof. So this was a total 360...But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. The vigilante remained as still as a statue, He had to have this kid know he meant no harm.  
After what finally felt like forever, the child began to slowly stop crying.  
It didn’t seem it was working, as he’d occasionally look around the area, only to begin bawling again. Perhaps he was looking for his mother? But atlas, it didn’t seem like she was coming to the rescue…  
His cries turned into hiccups, he looked at the taller person next to him. He...didn’t seem like he wasn’t gonna attack. It was hard to say. One thing for sure, it was getting rather chilly. And the blanket around the person’s neck did look quite comfy…  
The vigilante, glanced at the child, still not moving a muscle. Seemed like the kid was rather cold. He seemed like he wanted to come over, as he was now staring intensely at the masked man. Maybe now, the hero could speak.  
“I’m not going to hurt you, I came to help” He tried his best to keep his voice low, and welcoming. He hoped it would get through to the child.  
The little blonde took a second to process what the man said. Maybe...Maybe he could trust this person? At this point...why not? 

Mysterion watched as the child began to ever slowly, inched his way over. The hero remained still, he didn’t want to risk scaring the child away.  
The little blonde was now sitting closer the taller person. He was afraid to make eye contact, as he tapped at the wooden floor for a minute. He shivered a little, it was getting colder every second. Finally, he reached over and grabbed hold of the strange man’s purple blanket. That was weird, sure didn’t feel fluffy, how could he sleep with this? But at this point, there was no use in being picky. Without a second thought, he child wrapped the weird blanket around him. It was a lot warmer than he expected and cozier.  
The masked hero just watched as the child wrapped himself in the cape. How he wished he was doing the same in his bed…  
Well, at least he finally seemed to gain the kid’s trust. Now that that was over, it was time to take this kid back to his parent so he could sleep in his bed as well. Maybe...he could pick the blonde up now?  
With a sigh  
Mysterion attempted to pick the child up. He flinched when it squirmed a little, he really didn't want this kid to freak out anymore. Though, it seemed all that crying from earlier really tuckered the little fella out, as he wrapped himself more into the cape. "Come on man...it's just a kid!" with a deep inhale he quickly scooped the kid up. He was quite surprised at how light the child actually was as he cradled it under a arm, covering it up within the cape to keep him from getting sick from the rain.  
The masked man soon opened the door to the shed and stepped into the unforgiving weather. Why did it feel like the rain was waiting for him to come out before it began to really pour? He cussed under his breath as he took off into a run, running around to the otherside to the front door. He opened his cape a little to look at the child. He pointed at the house, to let him know he was taking him home. Fortunately the kid did understand, giving a light nod before ducking back into the cape. Okay good, knock on the door, give the kid to his parents. And everyone live happily ever after! Boy, that was easier said than done. Mysterion made his way to the door, ringing the doorbell. He waited...no answer. He knocked on the door...no answer. He rang the doorbell repeatedly...5 minutes passed...no answer. He was starting to get fed up, certainly these people didn't just leave their kid out here in the damn rain!  
With a huff he finally took a step back before shouting "HEY I GOT YOUR KID, COME GET HIM!" Surely they had to hear that, a light will flick on in one of the rooms and someone will be coming.  
…  
…  
no answer.  
"Great..." the man pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a annoyed sigh. He peeked into his cape at the child who was curled up in his arm  
He couldn't just leave him here! Where the fuck were those parents!?  
The vigilante looked at the house, and then down the road. He suppose to be in bed by now...but no, he was out here with this kid he never seen in his life and now he had to either leave the poor thing out here to most likely freeze to death...or basically kidnapping. He took one more glance at the child. It snuggled more into his arm, softly snoring. He finally made his decision.  
"Welp little guy...I hope those are PJs you're wearing."  
He began to head down the sidewalk away from the house. His brain was screaming at him that this was crazy, he should just leave the kid and hope the parents opened the door, he wasn't responsible for it! But his legs just wouldn't stop. Besides...it would just be one day. But still...this whole thing was troubling him...why was this child left all alone? Are his parents looking for him? Was he a runaway?  
Those questions would have to til tomorrow. Right now, focus on not freezing. Maybe after a goodnight rest, this kid would be in a more speaking mood.  
The walk to his apartment felt longer now that he had to take the long. But he finally made it, fiddling with the keys for a second, Mysterion was finally able to get the door opened.  
The place wasn’t much for the eyes to see. It was a small dingy looking place. The floors looked dirty, the couch looked way overused. And the walls looked chipped.  
“Still looks better than that raggedy ass shed” The man huffed, as he closed the door behind him. Welp, it was time to make his new little guest comfortable.  
He lifter his cape up a little to expose the child  
“I don’t have a guest room sadly...you gonna have to sleep on the couch”  
He wasn’t even sure if the kid heard him. Heck, he doubt he’d be picky anyways.  
Carefully, he placed the blonde down on the couch. The man held his breath as the kid let out a deep sigh. He finally exhaled once the little guy turned over and went backto his slumber. Making his way to the back, The hero grabbed a few blankets from the back of his closet. He made his way back upfront, wrapping the kid up in the blankets. The little blonde looked like a little burrito all snuggled up in them. Okay, the kid was taken care of, time for bed!  
Finally he could get out of this outfit!  
The man practically flung his hero costume off as he flopped into bed.  
It was a quarter passes 2...  
“Dammit Kenny, What the hell were you thinking?” He said, scratching at his messy dirty blonde hair.  
Looks like he still wasn’t done being a hero, as he now had to return this kid tomorrow and pray he doesn’t see some cop cars and a crying couple outside. But best not to worry about that now. Right now, just enjoy the bed. Nice soft bed.  
It wasn’t long before Ken felt his eyes growing heavier, and soon he was out cold.


	2. Part of a complete questioning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that his little guest is up, it's time to learn more about this little kid. With a little help from a good friend

Normally after battling crooks all night, Kenny would stay in and sleep to about 12- 2 in the afternoon at best. So when he felt something heavy just jump onto his chest at 7am he was in full panic mode.  
Ken was totally discombobulated as his eyes darted around the room, his chest quickly heaving up and down as he desperately tried to catch his breath. Once he had finally recollect himself, he looked down to see to bright blue eyes staring up at him.  
“Oh thank god...it's only you” The man flopped back into his pillow as a sea of relief washed over him  
“Kid, what the hell are you doing up this early? You trying to give me a heart attack or something?”  
The little boy didn't say anything, but instead continue to look up at Ken, it was like he was….studying him. It was starting to make the messy haired blonde rather uncomfortable. Was the kid a mime? Trying to send him a message telepathically?  
When it seemed like this was gonna be some kind of staring contest, there was a gurgling sound. Soon the child pointed at his stomach  
“Tummy wants food!” he simply said.  
Ken looked at the kid for a second  
“So you're hungry huh?”  
The little blonde nodded his head fast.  
“Well alright then, let's get ya something to eat” With a sigh, the man lifted the child off of him. Rubbing at his tired eyes as he practically had to force himself to sit up. He took a glance at his alarm clock, he grimaced at the sight.  
“7:05...and this kid is talking about he’s hungry” he thought, as he got up from his nice comfortable bed. He cringed as the cold air welcomed his body, god he hated it so much. Meanwhile, the little boy was in high spirits as he struggled to climb down from the bed by using the blanket. He soon fell down with a little plop, but was quickly back on his feet as he bounced into the hallway, Kenny sluggishly following him.  
Once the two had made it into the kitchen, Ken went over to the fridge, while the small blonde climbed up into a seat excitedly waiting for his breakfast.  
The man always kept his cereal on top of the fridge, however it seemed his supply was rather low as there was only two boxes left. Nevertheless he took both down and held the two out for the kid to see.  
“Alright little dude, are you a Franken berries or a Count Chocula person?”  
The child looked the between the two boxes as if he was really thinking about the choice, putting his little hand on his chin as he looked between the two boxes.  
“Hmmmmmm…”  
Why did this turn into a game of jeopardy or something? Ken began to tap his foot impatiently  
“You got two choices but they're both good” He was a franken berries person himself but Count chocula was alright. Whatever lets him get back to bed quicker.  
Finally the child took his hand off his chin  
“I choose…that one!” he pointed at the chocolate cereal  
“Excellent choice!” the man exclaimed as he put franken berries back on top of the fridge. Good, that meant more for him.  
As Kenny got a bowl to get the cereal ready the little boy climbed down from his seat and went over to him.  
Just as Ken was about to pour the cereal--  
“WAIT!” He came to a halt hearing the little voice. He looked down at the child, who looked a bit shook  
“What's wrong little dude?”  
“Why are you putting the cereal in first?”  
That was the last question Kenny was expecting to hear  
“Ummmm...cause that's how normal people do it?”  
The small blonde shook his head  
“You always gotta pour the milk in first, that way the cereal stays crunchy”  
“But it stays crunchy either way”  
“Nuh uh! Daddy says if you don’t pour the milk in first, the cereal will lose it's flavour and it will be bland and yucky!” 

“I bet he's bland and yucky” Ken thought as he rolled his eyes. He could've sat there and made a essay on why this kid's dad was wrong, but right now his bed was calling him. So, to his disbelief, he did what he was told and got the milk and poured it into the bowl first. Once again he grabbed the cereal to pour it in.  
“WAIT!”  
“What is it now dude?” He just wanted to sleep! Did this kid's dad also want him to slice in bananas and bless the bowl before he poured the cereal in?  
The child twiddled his thumbs shyly  
“Can...Can I pour it in?”  
Kenny pretended to be offended at the question.  
“Are you saying you don't trust me to pour cereal in correctly? Is there a right way to pour cereal?”  
“No! I just want to pour it in...cause I like pouring it in! Big boys pour their own cereal in their own bowls!”  
Okay that was cute, Even Ken had to chuckle at that.  
“Well…I guess you are a big boy now. What the heck, knock yourself out big fella”  
He picked the child up letting him grab the box.  
The little blonde cheered as he grabbed the box, trying his best to ever carefully tilt it so the cereal will come out. 

The child poured the cereal for a little while, a lot more than what should probably be in the bowl “Alright kiddo, don't you think that’s enough?”  
The two looked at the bowl overflowing with chocolate cereal. Little bits of cereal began falling out.  
“Nothing that I can't handle, I'm a big boy!” the child announced proudly  
“If you say so” the man chuckled, wondering how much cereal there would be left.  
With a yawn Kenny set the kid down, handing him his bowl of cereal.  
“Alright bucko, you can go watch tv in the living room while you eat that. Counting on you not to make a big mess okay?”  
The child saluted  
“YES SIR!” He giggled, before taking his cereal into the living room. Fortunately he knew how to work a tv. As he turned to get to the cartoons, Ken took off back to his own room. He practically flew into his bed before shutting his eyes again. Loudly snoring away. 

It was a quarter to 12 when Kenny began to open his eyes, that was a nice rest. And now he had the rest of the day to his--  
“HI!”  
The man screamed at the voice, as he shot up. Sure enough a pair of blue eyes were looking at him again. The little fella laughed away  
“You sounded like a little girl mister!” he giggled.  
Ken shot the laughing child a look  
“Is this a normal thing with you? Do you just sit there in your parents room and stare at them?”  
The child just smiled innocently at him. But, Ken can only see a mischievous little devil behind that cute act  
“So what can I do for you sir?”  
The little blonde tugged at the blanket that had wrapped Ken up snuggly  
“I was wondering...what's your name?”  
Oh, guess they didn't exactly get the chance to sit down and get to know about each other  
“The names Kenny”  
“Kenny...Do you have any kids?”  
That made the man do a double take  
“Wait wha--”  
“Do you have a girlfriend? Or a pet? Is it a dog? Oh! what about a hamster? I really like hamsters! They're just so cute with their little noses and how tiny they are and--”  
As the boy rambled on, Kenny was still trying to process his first two questions. Next thing this kid would be asking was for his social security card number and if he locked his doors at night!  
It seemed forever the child was talking about his 101 reasons on why hamsters were the best before Kenny finally cut him off  
“Yes, I like hamsters too, but you never told me your name.”  
“Oh!”  
The little boy facepalmed himself embarrassingly  
“Oh hamburgers, I got to talking a lot about hamsters again!”  
Good, they were back on track  
“My names Leopold! But people call me Butters!”  
“Butters huh?”  
Pretty cute name honestly, though a little strange for a child. But no time to focus on that  
“Butters, do you know if your parents are home?” It’s like the minute Ken asked, all the color went away from Butters face, Before he quickly responded  
“Ummm...Nope! I don't think they're home, neither of them! They're probably at...work! Yeah!”  
What? Their child was missing and they were both at work? That didn't seem right.  
“Don't you think they would be looking for you or--”  
“Nope! They get really busy! They got a lot of work and stuff so they probably aren't at the moment. They'll probably look later!”  
Why was he acting so jumpy all of a sudden?  
Ken's red flag was beginning to emerge as he looked straight into Butters’ scared eyes.  
“Butters, I’m gonna ask you a question, and you have to answer okay? Where were your parents last night when I found you?”  
That made the boy squirm, he began to twiddle his thumbs nervously as his eyes looked around the room.  
“I-I don't know…”  
“What do you mean you don't know? Why were you outside in that shed during a storm?”  
“Because...Because I like being out there! Being in the shed is fun!”  
Okay, this nervous behavior was really unsettling. The man lifted up the child a little  
“Butters, look at me, Why were you in that shed crying? Why didn't your parents come when I knocked on the door? And I want the truth”  
It probably wasn't the best way to get answers, Butters was definitely scared as his lips began to quiver. But it only made Ken want to know more, what the heck was happening at that house? But once he saw tears began to form in the corner of the child's eyes, his expression softened as he put Butters down  
“I’m sorry kiddo...I just...I want to make sure your okay and--” Just then the doorbell rang. That was strange…he doesn't remember anyone planning to come over...and he wasn't expecting a package...but guess he had to get out of bed sometime today. Getting up, he got a pair of Pj bottoms. Whether they were clean or not was the question as he just picked them up off the floor. As he made his way to the door, he stopped and took a glance at Butters. The little blonde was rather quiet, looking like a guilty puppy as he just looked at the ground. That made Ken feel terribly guilty. Mysterion was more of a punch first ask questions later kind of guy, but this was a whole new situation.  
This was obviously a situation that needed communication but unfortunately Ken wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to talking to people, especially small kids. He would had tried to comfort Butters if whoever was at the door wasn't ringing the bell like their life depended on it.  
“We can talk later” Ken said to the child before walking into the hallway

“I'M COMING” He yelled as he made his way to the living room. God whatever this was better be fucking important!  
Unlocking the door he quickly swung it open, but his expression quickly lightened up once he saw who it was. Kenny, gave a light smack at the person's green hat  
“Oh hey Kyle, you ready for our date?”  
“Shut up dude” The person snickered as he brushed past Kenny into his apartment.  
“I just wanted to drop by cause it seems literally everyone is either gone or busy today. And I assumed you'd still be in bed. Once again, I am right” Kyle said looking down at Ken in his Pajamas.  
Kenny just shrugged, obviously having no shame in his outfit for today  
“Oh I'm terribly sorry! I didn't know the queen of England's arrival was today! Shall I get freshened up as you prepare the tea and crumpets?” He said and possibly the worst England accent ever.  
Nonetheless, it got a chuckle out of Kyle  
“Fuck you dude, you can at least act like you don't live like a bum!”  
“Awww, but I'm just trying to live up to my potential Kyle!”  
That got Ken a playful shove from the other man  
“I swear, I don't even know why I still put up with you”  
“Cause you love me?”  
“It's more like babysitting cause we both know your ass would do something stupid if I wasn't here to keep an eye on yo--”  
Kyle just happened to look out the corner of his eyes when he saw a small figure disappear into the hallway.  
“What was that?”  
“What's what?”  
The green hat fellow started to make his way to the hallway  
“I could've sworn I saw someone…”  
He looked straight down, no one there.  
That was odd.  
“Hmmmm...I could've sworn I saw…”  
Just then he heard a little sneeze. Kyle looked down to see a little child looking back up at him, a look of terror in its eyes. 

“Ummm...you wanna explain this Kenny?”  
Kyle asked as the child ran right past him and hid behind Ken's leg.  
“Oh, did I forget to tell you I had a sleepover?”  
Butters shyly peeked at Kyle, but quickly retreated behind Ken, covering his eyes with his little hands.  
“Kenny what the hell is going on? Who's kid is that!?”  
Uh oh, just what he needed. If this kid thought he was scary trying to ask question he definitely better not try to hide something from Kyle, the man was the equivalent of sherlock holmes and a angry wife confronting her cheating husband.  
Kenny saw no point of trying to hide it. With a sigh, he made his way to the couch. He wasn't surprised to see half a bowl of uneaten cereal nearby. He simply scooted the bowl away as he sat down.  
“It’s a long story dude”  
Butters was right behind him the whole time, soon climbing into his lap as he kept an eye on Kyle to see what he'd do.  
The man had too made his way to a seat, plopping down in a nearby chair.  
“Not like either of us have anything to do” he simply said. Ken couldn't help but snicker  
“Well alright then”  
And so Kenny told Kyle everything. From getting lost in the rain, from finding Butters, to neither of the parents coming when he tried to return him. As he talked, the little blonde had pretty much made himself comfortable in Ken's arm, It was hard to tell if he was following along or not as his gaze seemed to wandered around the room. At best he was probably just trying to focus on not going to sleep.  
Meanwhile Kyle was taking in every word he was given. Usually replying with a little “hmm” or just simply putting his hand on his chin. As if he was really thinking about something.  
Once he was done with his story, Kenny clasped his hands together  
“So yeah...I'm sorta just babysitting until otherwise.”  
“I see”  
Kyle looked over at the child, the kid looked rather tired as he snuggled more into Ken's arm, he was definitely trying to fight sleep at this point.  
“And he doesn't know where his parents might be? What if they're looking for him?”  
Kenny just shrugged  
“I tried to ask, but he completely freaked out and just said they were at work”  
“That doesn't sound good dude…”  
“Yeah, I am very aware”  
“So what are you going to do?”  
That question hit Kenny pretty hard. He didn't really plan that far ahead. His original plan was to just take the kid back and to walk away. He was sure the parents would see him before night...right?  
He wasn’t too sure about that now. After retelling yesterday out loud, and Butters little freakout, he wasn't sure what he could do.  
“Maybe...Maybe his parents will come through tonight?”  
“I don't think that's a good idea Ken…”  
“Well I mean..”  
He did a quick look over on Butters face and arms  
“He doesn't have any marks or anything. I don't think his parents have hit him.”  
“Still…”  
“Well there's not much we can do dude! Not without any proof or Butters wanting to tell us anything”  
Kenny hated to say it like that but it's not like they knew the kid. They couldn't just file a report, not without any evidence to back them up.  
But that wasn't enough for Kyle  
“I still say you should do a little looking around, just to make sure he's alright”  
“Ah yes, cause they'll definitely let me snoop around their place to see if they're child abusing assholes”  
“No smartass, I was saying while you out being Mysterion, just sorta...drop by, look out the windows. See if you can spot anything wrong”  
Actually...that wasn't a bad idea.  
“Kyle you might be onto something”  
“Are you surprised?”  
Ah, that typical smugged comment that Ken was more then use to. But for once, it didn't bug him as much. There was something more important on his mind. He looked back down at the child in his arm. Guess Butters had given up on trying to hang in there. He had completely conked out, his thumb in his mouth as he soundly slept.  
He looked pretty darn adorable dreaming away. 

Seeing this little guy peacefully sleeping in his arm...it made something in Ken...wanna protect this child?  
That was odd, he didn't even know this kid…  
Nuh uh, he couldn't be getting attached, not this quickly  
“Tonight, after I bring him home, I'll do a little peeking to see if I see or hear anything”  
Kyle nodded  
“Okay dude, I'll stay up tonight then. You better call me as soon as you get back from his place too”  
“Of course dude”  
That was one thing Ken always liked about Kyle, he was always there when he needed him, even during those times Kenny thought he didn't. The man was a loyal friend, not to mention he was pretty smart and always seemed to know just what or as he put it  
“Making sure your dumbass don't get yourself killed”

Butters was still sound asleep, that gave the two gentlemen to plot out their plan  
“Okay so after Butters wakes up I'll take him to his house. Tonight, I'll return to see if his parents have let him in. If they haven't or if I'll see something fucked, I'll pull out my phone and record it”  
“Yes, and then we report those fuckers to the authorities, this is looking pretty--Wait...should we feed him before?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean, what if these people are actually fucking cruel? What if they let him starve?”  
“I don't know dude...what if they do feed him and they find out he's already ate? That’ll make them suspicious”  
“Okay you got me there...maybe something small?”  
“Dude…”  
“It's just in case Kenny!”  
Ken pinched the bridge of his nose, this was a lot more than he was use to. But...guess they couldn't have the little fella starving if his parents were actual monsters  
“Okay fine, I can make him something before we leave”  
“I hope it's a real meal and not a bowl of sugar again” Kyle exclaimed looking at the half eaten bowl of cereal that was nearby  
“I’ll have you know that Count chocula is the nutritional part of a complete breakfast!”  
“More like a obesity in the form of a complete breakfast”  
“Can't believe you come into my house and question my diet”  
“Well somebody has to, otherwise you would have ended up as another Cart--”  
“NEVER” Ken snapped, which got a laugh out of Kyle  
“Okay okay! But seriously dude, the kid needs a actual meal. Both of you do. How about you both come by my house later on? I'll cook y'all something”  
“Kyle I'm flattered! But don't you think it'll be weird to have a kid on our date?”  
Kyle snickered as he got up from the chair  
“Trust me, if I were to cook for you on a date, you'd be getting a nice warm plate of ramen noodles” he sneered giving Ken's head a push on his way out  
“At least let it be chicken flavor!”  
The man called out before the door was closed shut.  
Welp, it was just him and Butters yet again. The child mumbled a little in his slumber, must a been one heck of a dream he was having.  
Kenny gave the boy a little rock  
“Welp big fella, hopefully we'll be taking care of you tonight”


	3. Dinner with a side of concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to have dinner with Kyle! Just a nice relaxing dinner

6 o'clock had finally rolled around when Kenny was in his room getting dressed. Out of all the things in the world, the last thing he expected to do in life was go over to Kyle's house for dinner with some stranger’s kid dressed in a bunny suit. And yet he also couldn't say this was the weirdest thing he has ever done. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Speaking of said child--  
“Kenny! Are you done? Can we go now? What do you think Mr Kyle is making? You think he has ice cream?”  
Butters was spewing out questions left and right. Kenny couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the child.  
“Geez, does this kid ever take a second to breathe?”   
After buttoning up his pants, Ken put on his classic orange park, tightening the straps so it covered up most of his face. Finally, he opened the door where the first thing he was greeted to was a ball of bright blue. The little blonde looked up at the man, he seemed rather focus on that jacket.  
“Kenny, you look like one of those Alaskan people! Are we going to Mr Kyle's house on your polar bear?” he giggled at his joke.   
Kenny let out a gasp at the remark. “I'll have you know this is a trending style! You kids just don't get it” the man stuck his nose in the air trying to act stuck up, but soon began to laugh as well as he picked the child up.  
“Unfortunately my bear is taking a break today, but if it means anything I have car that sounds like a polar bear when it starts” 

Making their way out the front door, and making sure the door was locked. The two soon headed over to a beat up pick up truck. The paint was chipping off, a window was cracked and the doors looked as if they'd fall off at any second.   
“Say hello to ol Bessie Butters. She may not look in tip top shape, but this ol gal has gotten me pretty much through everything” Ken gave the truck an affectionate pet before reaching for the door handle.  
When he opened the door, the inside wasn't any better. The seats were old and torn, looking as if they had never met a vacuum cleaner as all types of wrappings littered them.  
Despite the grotesque scenery Butters showed no sign of judgement or disgust, as he hopped out of Ken's arms and onto the germ infested seat, Bouncing happily in it.   
“It's nice to meet you Bessie! You're really old...but you seem like a nice car!”   
Kenny smiled at the nice gesture, he was proud of his car, despite everyone else, including his friends shaming him for keeping it this long. Besides even if he wanted to, it's not like he can just break out his wallet today and come back with a Chevy!  
Nah, Ol Bessie was just fine.  
Making his way to the other side with key in hand, Ken hopped into the driver's seat. Jamming said key into the ignition and turning it. As he did it the car made a low sputtering sound, clouds of smoke coming out from the back as if it was a chimney.   
Turning the car completely on made it growl   
“Wow! It really does sound like a polar bear!” the child looked in awe.  
“Better buckle up kiddo, this bear is about to take off!”   
With that, the car backed up out of the parking space before heading out to the streets, it sputtered and rumbled as it may it’s way down the road.

“Dinner’s almost ready...right on time”  
Kyle stood over a boiling pot, stirring away at some mac n cheese.   
“Speaking of on time…” he places the spoon down to take a look at the watch on his hand. He tapped his foot impatiently  
“Geez Ken, you washing your whole fucking house or something?”   
It honestly didn't surprise Kyle his friend was late, as usual. The thing is, Kenny would probably be late to his own funeral. The man had no sense of time and lacked any feeling in his bones to just pick up the pace even just a little bit.   
“I swear Kenneth, if this food gets cold…”   
Just when he was about to grab bis phone and Ring Ken up, he heard the sound a raggedy car.   
“That has to be him”  
Kyle went to the window and slid the blinds to the side, sure enough that recognizable hunk of junk came pulling into his driveway.  
Soon Ken got out the car making his way to the passenger side, he then pulled little Butters out, setting him on the ground. The child ran up to the porch completely leaving Kenny behind, who just simply walked, his hands in his pockets.   
“Welp time to go greet them”

Butters was way less shy then before as he knocked on the door excitedly.   
“MR KYLE WE'RE HERE! I'M AT THE DOOR”   
Kyle chuckled as he opened the door. This was a whole new kid compared to that little blonde who was all snuggled up in Ken's arms a few hours ago. Maybe that nap of his gave him a little boost of confidence.  
The door wasn't even all the open before Butters had squeezed his way in and hugged the man's leg.   
“HI MR KYLE!” For as small as he was he definitely had a strong loud voice.  
The green hat man lifted the boy up before giving him a small pat on his head  
“Wow, you surely ain't the same Butters I met back at Ken's house, who are you?”   
The little blonde laughed  
“I'm the same Butters from Kenny's house silly! I was just a little shy...but Kenny said you were nice! And-And I'm a big strong boy, so I don't have nothing to worry about!” he took a second to think  
“Also...do you have ice cream?”   
Was that possibly the main reason?  
“Don't tell me the only reason you talking to me is for my cookies and creme!” Kyle pretended to be hurt.  
Butters quickly shook his head! “No! Well…Just a little bit...but it's just a eensy weensy bit why, I promise!”  
Well at least he was truthful.  
Finally Ken had made his way to the front door, giving Kyle a lazy smile who in return gave him a snarky one  
Kenny soon put his right arm across his face as if he was a vampire hiding behind it's cape  
“Good evening sir, I wish to come in” he said in his best Dracula impression.  
Kyle rolled his eyes at his friend  
“I don't know count douchula, can you? Or is it gonna take you another half an hour just to get in?”   
At that remark Kenny made a “PFFFFT” sound before brushing past the other man  
“Oh I’m terribly sorry for being late! I hope I haven't kept you and the queen waiting too long!”   
That earned him a playful punch in the arm  
“Sorry, but it's off with your head!” Kyle laughed before setting Butters down  
“Nah dude, you ain't incredibly late surprisingly, in fact the food's almost done. Just waiting on the--OH SHIT!” The man took off to the kitchen, juggling the spoon in his hand as he desperately tried to stir the mac n cheese   
“GODDAMIT! IT'S STICKING TO THE POT, SON OF A--”   
Kenny quickly covered Butters ears  
“KYLE, LANGUAGE!” He hissed.  
He sure didn't need this kid going back home trying out these new words.  
A cloud of smoke emerged from the kitchen as Kyle came out coughing, waving a oven mitt in the air  
Ken shook his head slowly  
“Tsk tsk Kyle, I can't believe I came all the way here on time just for some burnt macaroni and cheese”  
“Fuck you dude”

6:30 rolled around when the three sat down for dinner. Fried chicken, green beans, and little burnt mac n cheese, along with some fruit punch.   
It was rather quiet at the table as they munched away, until Kyle cleared his throat  
“Butters are you enjoying your meal?”  
Butters nodded as he swallowed some chicken  
“Yeah! It's really yummy!”  
“Well I'm glad you like it!”   
Kenny just nodded along to the conversation. There was definitely some things he wanted to talk about, but maybe now wasn't the perfect time.  
He was in the middle of taking a sip of his punch  
“Butters are you ready to go home tonight?”   
Ken bout choked, coughing up a storm. He looked at Kyle in shocked, he definitely didn't expect him to just sprang that question here! Apparently neither did Butters. The child just looked at his plate.  
“Ummm…y-yes!” his voice was barely a whisper.   
Hmm, that was rather suspicious, Butters was starting to act weird again. But it seems Kyle wasn’t done yet  
“I hope it ain't too much, surely your parents have dinner ready for you at home”  
“Probably”  
Wait a second, what did that mean? Ken's pop up immediately at that, his eyebrows arched. It was his turn to start asking questions.  
“What was that?”  
“I-I mean, maybe they do! I don't know, they...They're usually ummm...busy!”  
Nuh uh, the yellow flag was about to be switched out for that red flag.  
“What does that mean? They're too busy to feed their own son!?”  
“Kenny calm down” Kyle watched as Ken was had now scooted his seat back. The little blonde had shrunk down more. Looks like he said more than he needed to  
“Butters, tell us the truth. Do your parents feed you?”  
“Of course!”   
“How often?”  
“Like...like a lot!”   
“Butters, are you trying to cover up something?”  
“No!”   
“Don't lie to me young man!”  
The child's lip began to quiver.  
“I swear i'm not sir! I wouldn't lie! I wouldn't that that, I swear!”   
Wait did he just Ken sir? That threw the man a loop as he seemed to have snap back to reality. Kyle looked at him with a “Now look what you did” expression as the child was cowering in his seat, he was whimpering a little, though it didn't feel like all of that was towards Ken. Kenny just let out a long exhale as he ran a hand through his hair  
(“Dammit...now look what you did”)  
He really was bad with kids. The man slowly approached the scares child, before giving him a gentle pat on his head.  
“Hey...it's okay dude. I was out of line.”   
He rubbed Butters back gently  
“It's okay, you did nothing wrong Butters”  
The little blonde slowly looked up at Ken with teary eyes, before wrapping his arms around him, sniffling away.   
Kenny wasn't expecting this gesture, he was completely stunned for a second as Butters whimpered away. He soon did the same, wrapping his arms around the child  
“Shhh, it's okay. You're gonna be okay, I promise”  
Though he said it, it was mostly to help ease him as well. He just didn't want to think of anything happening to this kid. This little kid that he just met yesterday. Butters was just another child in this world of millions of kids, and yet...Kenny felt like...he just had to protect him. 

The whole time this was happening, Kyle was just trying to process the whole thing. He was just taking back. From that “probably” and Butters immediately getting scared when he was questioned to the point he broke down. His first response was to curl into a scared little ball and cry, as if he was...going to get attacked? This just wasn't adding up. What kind of secrets was this child trying to hide? What did those sweet baby blue eyes have to experience with those parents of his?  
He didn't get to think about it long, Butters had finally calmed down, wiping at his red eyes.   
The ushanka hat man, stood up, giving the child a soft smile  
“Hey buddy, how about some of that cookies and creme”   
That seemed to perk the child up  
“With whip cream?”  
Kyle snickered as he gave Butters head a pat  
“Of course little buddy”  
Good ol Kyle to the rescue!  
Kenny tried to get peppy as well  
“I want whip cream too!”  
“You don't get any” Kyle scoffed. Ken began to pout  
“BUT MOOOOOM”  
“Whip cream is for good boys only”  
“You trying to say I ain't a good boy?”  
“Maybe I am, and maybe I ain't”   
Kyle went to grab the ice cream, which made Butters excited   
“Oh boy! We get to have ice cream Kenny!”  
“Yeah, but you get whip cream” Ken pouted.  
“Don't worry Kenny, you can be a good boy next time for some!”  
“Gee, thanks”  
Once everything was made, Kyle set the bowl of ice cream down, Butters immediately leapt out of Ken's grip and began to dig in. He wasn't halfway done and he already had cookies and cream mixed with whip cream on his face.   
The two just smiled as they watched the child enjoy his dessert, he wasn't paying any kind of attention to them.   
Which was why Kyle soon gestured for Ken to meet him in the hallway.  
Once the two went walked there, Kyle began.   
“Okay, so now I'm really concerned”  
“Yeah dude, same”  
“Did you see the way he panicked? The poor boy was fearing for his life”  
“Don't remind me”  
“But that's the thing...I don't think all of that was because of you Kenny”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean, there's obviously something going on at his house that he’s too afraid to tell”  
“I could've told you that, I thought he was gonna pass out when you asked was he ready to go home. This is really starting stressing me out”  
“I feel you...but we can't do much now, we gotta take this step by step. You remember the plan right?”   
“Yeah dude, take him home and in a couple of hours check to see if I see any fucked up shit, and if I do i beat the ever loving shit out of those parents of his”  
“That, minus that last part.”  
“But--”  
“Kenny, you and I both know that won't end well. This isn't another idiot trying to get away with a bag of money or a wallet. These folks can be highly dangerous, and highly clever.  
“Yeah...Yeah you right”  
Guess he never thought of it that way...Mysterion is just so use to kicking ass and leaving the criminal lying there til the cops came. For all he knew these people could have the place booby trapped are fully armed in case someone dared to investigate into this.  
After a moment of silence, Ken looked at his phone  
“It's starting to get late, probably should get this show on the roll”  
“Okay, as soon as he finish, the plan gets into action”  
“Okay”  
With that settled, it was time to get ready to get this plan started

Once Butters had finished his ice cream, he and Ken said their farewells to Kyle   
“BYE BYE MR KYLE! THANK YOU FOR THE MEAL” Butters called as they began to make their way to Ken's car.  
Kyle stood on his porch waving  
“You're welcome, hope to see you again little dude!”  
Once Butters was strapped in, and Ken got into the car, the two was off.   
Kenny kept taking glances at Butters. The child was happily humming to himself as he was looking out the window. It was nice to see him in better spirits  
“So, did you enjoy your time at at Uncle Kyle's?”  
“Mmhm! He makes yummy food!” the child simply said, still humming away  
“Well that's good to hear”  
Ken was trying to focus on the road, but he just kept feeling...guilty. Dinner kept rewinding in his mind. How he had overwhelmed Butters, how the child was terrified, crying. A huge lump was in his throat  
“Hey Butters?”  
“Yeah Kenny?”  
“Listen...about earlier...I’m really sorry dude. I didn't mean to stress you out like that. I just...Can i ask you something?”  
“Ummm...okay”  
“You do know…mom and dads can be...not nice right?”  
“What do you mean Kenny?”  
“I'm saying...if mommy or daddy are...physically hurting you, you shouldn't be afraid to tell someone. Cause that's not a nice thing and they shouldn't be doing that. ”   
It soon went completely quiet. Aw crap, is Butters crying again?   
“Hey...dude, I was just--”  
“Kenny?”  
“Yeah Butters?”  
“Were your mommy and daddy nice?”   
Ken wasn't prepared for that, the man’s mouth moved but words refused to form  
“Well ummm...you see...it just…”  
Deep breath Ken, Deep breath  
“No. They weren't exactly the nicest parents.” Both of his parents were drunk hillbillies, they would usually hide in their rooms and smoke whatever shit they got from drug dealers. But, they never tried to hurt Ken or his siblings. They never attacked them, or left them with bruises or scars. But that didn't justify anything. They were still shitty. Which was why it was blessing to Ken when all three of them finally got out of there. Karen, and his bro Kevin, going together on a much better apartment than his little waste bin.   
It was for the best. Now she's got a pretty decent job as well as Kevin. The two made a pretty good team! When Kenny visits, the place always looked nice. No sign of beer bottles or rats for miles.   
But now wasn't the time to think of his childhood, he was too focus on making sure Leopold's didn't end up like it.

They had finally reached Butters street. Kenny had decided to park the car a back way. He sure couldn't just pop up in these people's driveway holding their kid like he was a family member or something. Plus, that meant he could drop off Butters, and make it easier to sneak his way back over.  
Kenny had Butters over his shoulder, the child was holding on to his neck, looking like he'll be falling asleep soon.   
It just made Ken pray more that these people weren't really assholes, that they were actually good folks, That Butters would be in his nice warm bed tonight instead of almost freezing to death again.   
His thoughts were soon interrupted by a tiny yawn from the child.   
“Don't fall asleep on me pal, you're almost home!”  
Just as he said that he turned the corner into Butters driveway, the lights were on inside, so that definitely meant someone was there. Perfect.   
“Welp buddy, looks like this is goodbye”  
He set the child down on the porch, before ringing the doorbell. He immediately turned around and began to walk back to the car. After he was a quarter away from the house, Ken stopped and turned around. Butters was still sitting there, he looked like to be watching Ken leave, was his sad? Or was his face completely blank? It was hard to tell.   
A bad feeling crept up on Kenny as he had to force himself to keep walking “stick to the plan. If you really wanna help him, stick to the plan”   
With a deep inhale, he finally made it back to his car.   
Hopping in, Ken took this time to recollect himself.  
“Butters will be okay...he's probably inside right now. He's probably getting ready to sleep”   
His grip on the steering wheel tightened   
“And if those jackasses really are hurting him, then they're gonna regret the day they ever put their hands on him. THEY WILL--” Wait, happened to staying calm and positive?  
So much for trying to reassure himself.   
With a sigh, Ken finally started to drive off.  
“I can't get worked up. Not yet...later tonight will be deciding that”

It was a quarter to midnight. It was time for Mysterion to rise once again. The masked hero was getting ready to take off, perched on the roof, of the apartment where the mild mannered citizen, Kenny McCormick lived.   
But before he went to off to find crime, he had a special mission to complete first.   
He hopped over to the next door building's roof, and was off.  
Butters neighborhood was rather quiet, quite peaceful actually. No loud annoying cars honking left and right, no neighbors screaming at each other, no wild animals knocking over trash cans in sight.   
Yep, this place was pretty damn. But there was no time to enjoy the peace.   
The vigilante had finally found the house he was looking for. He looked around the area. There was no small blonde in sight.   
That was a good sign already. But real quick, Mysterion made his way to the back of the house, to the raggedy shed. He pressed an esr against the door.  
…  
No crying on the other side, in fact there didn't seem to be any kind of life back there.  
“Good, so he's most likely inside.” But now that left one more thing to do. Making his way back to the front of the house, Mysterion climbed into a nearby tree, he did his best to try to get a good glance into the two rooms that seemed to be next door to each other.  
One was bigger and had a king size bed in it. That must be the parents room. Seems the couple was already in bed as well, however there backs were turned towards the window so the hero couldn't get a look at their faces. However he did get to see that one had long blonde hair, the other had short brown hair.   
It was too quick to decide if they were pricks or not just yet.   
Now it was time to check that other room.   
The hero made his way to to the otherside of the tree, the branch was little flimsier, but it looked sturdy enough to hold him, just enough to at least get a good look at the other room.  
It was smaller, it had what appeared to be a bunny wallpaper. Definitely had to belong to Butters. But...the bed was nowhere in sight. Just his luck! The masked man did his best to at get a glimpse of it but everytime he tried to take a chance the branch made a cracking sound. It was too risky, he soon gave up. Scowling as he made his way down.   
“Dammit...just my luck…”  
The man cursed to himself, the one person he was trying to see, and he wasn't even in sight. However, maybe this was a good sign? If Butters wasn't outside, he just had to be inside! Where else could the child possibly be?  
Actually, probably wasn't the best idea to think too far into that…  
In the meantime, it was time to call someone.   
Leaving the driveway, Mysterion pulled out his phone and began to dial. Putting it up to his ear, it only rang twice before someone picked up  
“So, I'm guessing the plan went well?”  
“He wasn't outside so that's a start. I think I found his room, but I couldn't see if he was in bed or not.”  
“Hmmm...well if he wasn't outside maybe that's a sign? “  
“I don't know dude...I'd really like to see his face”  
“Understandable, perhaps…you can try again tomorrow? Maybe in the daytime since he'll most likely be outside”  
“Yeah, I might be able to do that”  
“Welp, guess that's settled. So what are you going to do now?”  
“Well--”  
Mysterion had made his way up to the bus stop, when police cars zoomed right past him, their sirens blaring loudly as they cut the corner.   
A smile appeared on the hero's face, maybe kicking some ass will help relieve some of this built up stress  
“Actually, I'm bout to go do what I do best”  
Hanging up the phone, he was on the prowl, running through trees and bushes and taking shortcuts through yards to keep up with the police cars.


	4. Kids and Robbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a good ol fashion cops and robbers. Surely nothing can get in Mysterion's way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for those who don't like blood, it's mentioned in one ir two scenes. Please don't be afraid to skip over them as the are only momentarily

Nothing made the vigilante more happier than when he reached the crime scene. It was at the bank, the usual as always. This should be a piece of cake. Police cars everywhere, broken glass scattered the sidewalk. “Hmmm...the guy must be on the run already…” The hero thought as he watched the police were investigating the scene, flashlights shined everywhere as if it was a nightclub. Meanwhile, Mysterion was already calculating up a solution. “It couldn't have been long since he ran...There's a alleyway in between the bank and the bakery...he wouldn't be stupid enough to go there...no place to hide.” The hero looked down the street “There was no sign of skid marks on the road... they must be on foot. Maybe if I go now...I'll still be able to catch up to them…” He had made his decision, He was up and already hopping onto the neighboring building's roof. His cape flying in the air as he took off at full speed.  
Man, it was already starting to feel good running after dumbass crooks. 

Sure enough after running for a about 3 miles he spotted a dark figure running down the sidewalk, carrying some sort of sack. “It's time”  
The hero ran across two more roofs before he was ahead of the person. He soon sprang down, landing perfectly on two feet as he stared into the eyes of the criminal. The man looked young, He looked like he should be in college. He had brown messy hair, as if he hardly ever got sleep. It was also obvious this was his first time robbing a bank. The minute he saw Mysterion appear in front of him, he let out a scream before falling backwards. Sure enough his sack contained bundles of dollar bills.  
(“Weird...This is usually the part when they try to pull out a gun or--”)  
The crook pulled out a pocket knife  
“STAND BACK MAN, I'M WARNING YOU”  
(“There it is!”)  
Seriously? A pocket knife? This guy really was a beginner! It was just so pathetic, Mysterion couldn't help by laugh. Which only pissed off the guy more.  
“THERE AIN'T NOTHING FUNNY AROUND HERE SHITFACE NOW-NOW YOU BETTER GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! OR...OR I'LL CUT YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL!”  
Now he was stuttering? This was getting better by the minute.  
The vigilante was feeling bad for this guy, he obviously wasn't up to this. Maybe he could get through to this guy? He put his arms up as to call a truce  
“Whoa man. Take it easy. Look, how. About we just talk?” The criminal eyed the hero curiously, but he stood completely still.  
“Look man, you don't seem like a bad kid. You're too young to be getting arrested and going to jail. You should be out here going to college and getting a great career. So what do you say? Just return the money, and the punishment will be less severe” 

The crook looked at the hero for a good minute, before he pulled the knife again  
“FUCK YOU MAN, WHY DO YOU THINK I'M DOING THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE! I am in college! I did want a better life! But...But those tuitions man...I can't pay them! I'm fucking broke! Their gonna kick me out next week if I don't have them...AND THEN I STILL HAVE TO PAY THEM. If I get kicked out...My life is over...Everything I worked for will be taken away...AND I AIN'T ABOUT TO LET THAT HAPPEN!”  
The man was growing more enraged, he took a step towards the vigilante  
“I'M WARNING YOU MAN, IF YOU DON'T LEAVE NOW, I'LL FUCKING STAB YOU! I WILL DO IT!”  
Welp, so much for trying to reason. Mysterion took a step back, he really didn't want to hurt this person, but he was running out of options.  
“I know life can be tough. But this isn't the way to go about it! There's a better solution other then--” The hero's sentence was cut, when he felt a small tug on his cape.  
He looked down, and his eyes immediately grew big. Because looking back up at him was two bright blue eyes in a bunny suit. “Hi Kenny!”

It was quiet for a while, Mysterion looking down at a child, the child looking back up at him smiling. And the criminal looking down at the random kid that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Finally, the hero cleared his throat, he had to remember he was in hero mode.  
“Uhh...little boy, wha...What are you doing he--”  
“Is that your friend Kenny? Are y'all playing superheroes? Can I play too?” The child ran up to the other man.  
“Butters, No!” Mysterion tried to grab for the child but he wasn't quick enough. The little boy was now up close to the criminal, who eyes him wildly. His knife was still in front of him, ready to strike down on anyone that got too close.  
The child however couldn't sense the danger as he gave the grown person a friendly wave  
“Hi! my names Butters! What's your name?”  
“Wha--”  
“Ooo, that's the same knife my daddy uses to cut open boxes! Do you do that for a living?”  
“I-I”  
“Cutting up boxes is fun! Especially when you open it and the bubble wrap pops out! That's the best part! I love the really big ones! Though, they can be hard to bust sometimes, but when they do they make a very big pop and-”  
“Butters!” The hero hissed. This was not the time to be discussing the joys of bubble wrap! How did Butters even find him? Wasn't he home!? How the hell did he get out??? Unfortunately the masked hero didn't get to think long about it. 

The criminal began to walk towards Butters, a crooked smile crept onto his face as he looked at the child like an animal looking at its prey.  
“So you know that guy?” He said pointing at Mysterion. Butters nodded proudly.  
“That's my friend! He's really nice!”  
“Oh is he?”  
“Yeah! He let me eat chocolate cereal in front o f the tv! And we then we went to his friend's house and we got to eat ice cream and-”  
“That's interesting” The crook held the knife tightly, he never took his eyes off the child.  
“So...what I'm hearing is. You two are really close. And so that means...it'd be quite a shame if...Oh I don't know...THIS HAPPENED ” The man soon brought his knife down  
“BUTTERS NO!” Mysterion took off towards the child. Without a second thought he leapt into the air.  
“FUCK!” The knife was plunged into his left hand, the hero could only watch as blood began to spew from his hand. “Shhhit!” The hero hissed, as he yanked the knife out. He'd probably get cussed out by Kyle later on, but he'll worry about that later. Right now he had a new main priority. He looked over to the child, He was able to push Butters out of the way just in time. Now the child was laying on the ground. He was close to the street but otherwise wasn't in danger of being in a car's way. Meanwhile, the criminal had already got the money back into the sack. With his only weapon now stuck in the hero’s hand. He was completely vulnerable, he took a look at the child, then the vigilante. On one hand, he could definitely use the kid as a shield and blackmail. That would definitely keep Mysterion at bay...Nah, the hero would definitely be furious. He should leave while he was distracted. And that's what he did.  
The masked hero just watched as the robber took off, he watched the man disappear into the darkness, before punching the ground.  
“GODDAMMIT!” It was like a punch in the gut, this was definitely one of his lowest points in his career. It left a sour taste in his mouth. He would have chased after guy, if he didn't have something else he had to take care of. 

Butters was already sitting up, looking at the hero concerned. “Kenny...are you okay?” He didn't dare to move as he watched the man.  
“Are...Are you mad Kenny?...” The boy could sense when he was in trouble, and so far it was very clear he was.  
The hero glances at the child, he wanted to be mad, he wanted to scold Butters for putting himself at danger like this. How he could have been seriously hurt…but no. Instead he got up and simply replied. “I'm fine” Before picking the child up.  
“We'll talk more when we get back to the house.”  
It was way too late to call himself bringing Butters back. Plus, what would be the point? He'd most likely be stuck outside anyways. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his left hand, Mysterion began the journey back to his apartment.

It felt like forever Mysterion was walking, with Butters cradled in his arm, and his left arm leaking like a broken fountain. But the two eventually made it back. After getting Butters settled in, Ken went into the bathroom to treat his wound. Carefully washing it off with cold water.  
He put a little bit of peroxide on it to keep it from getting infected before wrapping it up in bandages. The man let out a sigh  
“Well...guess it could have been worse” At least he got to walk away from this. How embarrassing it would have been if that knife ended up somewhere more fatal. He would never let himself live it down.  
In reality, the police were by now on his tracks again. The man would probably be arrested soon. Not that Kenny cared anymore. The maniac was desperate enough to attack an innocent child, the blonde couldn't help but wish for the worse for the asshole.  
He could sit at the mirror all night and curse the man who did this to him. But now he had to take care of other business. 

Butters was on the couch, twiddling his thumbs as he waited for Kenny to come back. The child felt like he was waiting for a angry parent coming into the principal's office. As soon as he heard footsteps his lips began to quiver, he was expecting to hear yelling soon. He deserved it, he was always up to no good…  
So it completely caught him off guard when Ken just dropped down in front of him...and pulked him into a hug.  
The man held the child in his arms  
“Don't ever do that again mister, I was so worried I was gonna lose you!” His voice was shaky as his grip grew tighter. The thought of something happening to Butters stressed him out.  
Butters was completely frozen in fear and confusion, why wasn't Ken mad? Why wasn't he yelling?  
“Kenny...aren't you mad? Why aren't you yelling at me?”  
“Dude, I’m not mad, I'm freaking relieved!...I was worried sick! God, to think that person could've--”  
Nope, not gonna think about that. Butters was okay, Kenny was alive. Everyone was okay…  
Kenny finally let the child go, grabbing a blanket  
“Alright sport, time to go to bed, today's been rather exhausting don't you think?”  
The small blonde nodded as he was already yawning.  
“I'm not really sleepy though, I'll probably stay up longer then you”  
But once he had gotten under the covers, the child was out just like that. His little face was almost completely hidden under the blanket.  
Alright. Butters was asleep...Ken had to make one phone call, and he'll be able to do the same.  
“This is gonna be a long call” he sighed, as he dialed Kyle's number

“I'm sorry WHAT HAPPENED!?” The red head was in distraught after Kenny had told him what happened  
“HOLY SHIT WHERE'S BUTTERS? IS HE OKAY!? DO I NEED TO CALL AN AMBULANCE?!?!? WHO'S THE BASTARD THAT DID THIS, I WILL CUT A BITCH”  
Ken couldn't say he expected less from his friend  
“Easy there tiger, Butters is perfectly fine. Can't say for my hand though.” Saying that, Kenny took a gander at his bandaged hand. He'd probably have to rebandage tomorrow.  
“And as for the asshole who did this...he got away, the jackass took off while I was on the ground” It still got under Ken's skin that the prick was able to get away, he sure hoped the cops got him.  
Meanwhile Kyle was obviously having a hard time processing all of this.  
“It just doesn't add up...didn't you say Butters was inside?”  
“I thought he was! The little rascal must've escaped somehow”  
“I...I just can't see it Ken. I just can't see Butters being able to walk out the front door without no one seeing him.”  
“Well what do you think happened Kyle? I didn't see him outside! He can't just...teleport outside like that!” It was confusing Kenny as well. How could Butters just...get out that easily? Did he even use the door? Did he climb out the window?  
Kyle soon spoke up  
“Do...Do you think he was already outside but he was hiding?”  
Kenny was about to reject that but actually started to think about it.  
“No...I mean--Maybe?” To be fair, he didn't exactly think to check bushes or behind trees. But then again, Butters could only get but so many places. Right?  
“Couldn't be, I’m sure I would have seen him! And besides, that doesn't explain how he was able to find me”  
Now he was really starting to question all of this. This Kid was more interesting than he thought. Could Butters have really already been outside this whole time? Following Kenny the whole way? Was there really a lot more to Butters then Kenny once assumed?  
One thing for sure...he was way too tired to be getting this confused.  
“Look...How about we meet at Tweak bros tomorrow so we can discuss this more? Saaayyy...around 11?”  
“You only saying that to get the breakfast”  
“Okay but Tweek can make a mean pastry, don't even say he can't”  
There a groan on the other end  
“Fine, whatever! But you actually better be there! Don't have me waiting for an extra 2 hours cause you tryna sleep in”  
“Don't worry, knowing Butters he'll wake me up early then that anyways”  
There was a small snicker  
“Alright, I'll see you two tomorrow”  
“Later dude”  
“Night man”  
As Kenny hung up the phone, he brushed back strands of his hair.  
“Today sure was something. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...probably not.” He shrugged as he turned out the lights.  
“Whichever the case, I’ be ready.” He was gonna get to the bottom of this. And no one was going to get in his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey wow, Chapter 4 already, hopefully I can keep this boat a floating!


	5. Breakfast with a little side of tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a nice breakfast at Tweek bro's coffee, right?

Another typical morning, that is, if you weren't Kenny McCormick. Just as he predicted, Butters was up and bright eyed. The child had already ran into the man's room and proceeded to hop all over the bed, chattering away like a chihuahua  
“KENNY, KENNY GET UP, IT'S MORNING!”  
Butters looked over to see if Ken had gotten up. To his surprise, the man made no attempt to wake up. Grumbling, as he buried himself deeper into the covers. This earned a huff from Butters as he pulled at the blankets. “Come on Kenny! It's breakfast time, we gotta eat!” He whined, determined to yank the covers off.  
Finally, Ken opened an eye.  
“We won't be eating cereal today little buddy, we're going out to eat for breakfast with uncle Kyle later on, his treat.” Wait, did Kyle say he was treating? Oh well, too late to take that back.  
Leo didn't seem too enthusiastic “B...But I'm hungry now!” His belly growled as if to back him up.  
Still,Kenny didn't move a muscle  
“We'll leave in a little bit I swear”  
“How long is a little bit?”  
Normally for Kenny it meant not for another 5-6 hours. But guess he couldn't be late this time even if he wanted to. Kyle made it very clear he wanted Ken to be there for breakfast.  
“It'll be real soon I promise” He gave the young boy a pet on the head.  
“If you be good and QUIET until then, You can have whatever you want when we get there, okay? For now, go watch some tv”  
That seemed to satisfy Butters, as he gave a nod  
“Okay Kenny, I won't make a peep!” he pretended to zip his mouth shut before hopping off the bed and running into the hallway. It was quiet for a second but soon the sound of what appeared to be Looney tunes echoed in the hall. Ken let out a sigh, as he looked at his clock. It was already 8:30. The man let out a groan. He had set an alarm for 10.  
“Is it possible to get a hour and thirty minute power nap?” He was willing to try, as he turned around and closed his eyes.  
The worst problem about waking up before your alarm is now your brain is anticipating when it'll go off. It didn't help Kenny was one of those people that once ya got up, it's like the world wants to get loud. The ticking of his clock was the main villain.  
It was so aggravating! Which was why Ken couldn't help but sneak a peek at it here and there.  
“8:45…”  
“8:57…”  
“9:01…”  
“Fuck”  
Only one 59 minutes to sleep…  
It sure didn't help that whatever Bugs bunny was doing was sounding rather interesting now.  
“Screw it” With a frustrated sigh, Kenny finally threw the covers off of him. Putting on a pair of PJ bottoms he made his way to the living room. 

He peeked around the corner, wondering what the child was doing. Surprisingly, Butters was sitting there, still as a statue. Ken wasn't sure which episode this was but Butters was hooked!  
The child didn't even say anything when the man walked in and sat down.  
“So what's Bugs bunny doing?”  
“It's so crazy Ken! He got kidnapped by these two burglars and now he has to survive until the police save him!”  
“Oh?”  
“Yeah! One's really short but he's a big meanie! And-and his partner is super tall but he's like really big dummy!”  
“Oh really? You think Bugs will get out?”  
“Golly I sure hope he does! He's been beating them up through most of the episode! Plus, superheroes always win! You'd think people wouldn't be bad guys cause of it”  
Ken couldn't help but chuckle, if only more people thought that way.  
“Well, I'mma let you watch one more episode after this one, but after that we gotta go bud.” It was already 9:50.  
Butters just nodded, his face still glued to the screen.  
Leo was occupied, time to get in the shower and  
get ready. With that, Ken got up and went back to his room, just in time to turn off his alarm. He slammed it off immediately. “Sorry pal, but I got an earlier wake up call.” 

Alright, it was 10:30. Shower? Done. dressed? Done. Child? Prepared and ready to go. And just in time. Kenny checked his phone just as a message from the ginger popped up.  
[“Hey asswipe u better be on the way, don't make me come over with a bucket of cold water C U soon hopefully!!!”]  
Ken snickered as he started to type out a reply, but then stopped. “It'll be funnier to surprise him” He thought, as he scooped Butters up and headed out the door.  
Ken couldn't help but draw out sceneries of how this would go “Wow Kenny, you're being so responsible! You know how much I love responsible men, I just wanna ki--”  
“Kenny?”  
Annnd the fantasy bursted, now there was just a confused Butters looking up at him. Oh shit, he didn't say that stuff out loud did he?”  
The taller blonde cleared his throat  
“Umm, Yeah? Wha-What is it dude?”  
“You never told me where we were going for breakfast?”  
Oh thank god, he didn't. Or maybe Butters would rather not ask why Kenny was talking out loud in a horrible high pitched voice. Either one was good honestly.  
“Oh! Well, we're going to a friend of mine's coffee shop.”  
“But I’m not allowed to have coffee!”  
“Don't worry little man, there's more than just coffee there”  
“Do they got cake?”  
“Actually, they do!” Butters never had a Tweekcake before? Boy, was he in for a treat! Tweek made the best cupcakes in south park, heck that went for all of his baked goods! In fact, it's mostly the reason Tweak bros business went up when he first inherited the place.  
“Trust me little buddy, you're gonna enjoy the food!”  
With another small pat on the head, Ken buckled the child in. Getting himself buckled into the driver's seat, they were off.

 

Surprise Surprise, Kyle's car was the first thing Ken seen when he pulled up to Tweak bros coffee shop. It was a beautiful dark blue Chevy, Ken and the others would always tease him for living the fancy life and how he's basically rolling in dough everyday but in reality, Kyle never acted like it. Minus the car, he really was basic. Living in nice size 2 bedroom 2 baths house. More than willing to sit down and chomp down on ramen in front of the tv then go to buca de faggoncini anyday.  
“That’s a pretty car!” Butters gushed taking the time to fully look at it as they drove by.”  
“Eh, it’s a little too blue for me” Ken shrugged. Truthfully, Ken was petty cause he was there when the Kyle got the car. While Kyle was slobbering over the Chevy The blonde had his eyes on a huge bright red pickup truck “Dude, COME ON! Do you realize how many chicks we can pick up with this bad boy!?” The redhead rolled his eyes “Yes, but do you realize how much money I'd spending trying to get gas for that thing? Besides, that shade of red is hideous!”  
“BUT THE HOTTIES!” Despite his efforts, the tits wasn't enough to convince Kyle, and that's how Kenny ended up pouting the whole way home in a Chevy. But now wasn't the time to relive a truly HORRIBLE day. Time to get their chow on!

After parking across the street and getting Butters out the car, the two made their way to the shop. Making their way to the door it was then they saw a rather interesting sign. Taped onto the door was a NO KIDS!!! In red marker in a rather messy handwriting. That was unusual...That wasn't there last week.  
All of a sudden, Ken felt a little squeeze on his hand, he looked down to see Butters slumped over, looking rather nervous. “They don't like kids Kenny?”  
That was what Ken wanted to know himself. While Craig was a little meh, Tweek was rather sweet with them, always making sure to have extra cupcakes out for the little ones. Maybe...Maybe this was a joke? Nevertheless, couldn't have Butters feeling like he wasn't wanted around. Ken gave the child's hand a gentle squeeze in return. “Well Butters.. ummm, I don't know what this is about...But they're gonna love you! I promise!” That was the least he could make sure happened, how couldn't they like this little fella?  
Still...probably best to keep a close eye on Butters. Great, surely nothing bad will happen! With a sigh, Ken opened the door and the two entered.

After knowing Kenny for all these years, Kyle was way too use to the man showing up late to everything. He'd probably show up late to his own wedding, heck the world could be ending and he’d be late to joining the mass crowd of people panicking down the street. So when it was Ken to enter that door, the redhead had to do a double take.  
“Kenny? Is that you or is this some secret twin brother?” He immediately joked as his friend made his way to the table he was at.  
“You got me, I’m not Kenny. I'm his bro, Larry, and I finally escaped the basement”  
That caused the Redhead to roll his eyes, but his expression soon soften as he looked down  
“So where's our little guest of honor?”  
Ken was confused at the question, but the gears in his brain immediately started up. “Oh Butters? He's right--” It was like the world froze as Ken looked down only to not see a little blonde next to him. Okay Okay, don't panic, maybe he was still in the store? It wouldn't be hard to find him! Just gonna need a magnifying glass...maybe a bloodhound and a--  
“Hey Butters!”  
It took Ken a second to follow Kyle's gaze, only to see the missing child face pressed against the glass case where all kinds of sweets were displayed. Finally, Ken could release the breath he held on to.  
“Bud, you bout gave me a heart attack!” He called. Butters didn't even move a muscle  
“WOW! LOOK AT ALL THE CHOCOLATE! Chocolate cookies, Chocolate cake, Chocolate donuts! Ooo, there's even a chocolate brick!”  
“That’s called fudge my good sir”  
Butters looked around confused at the new nasally voice that came out of nowhere.  
The child looked around confused at who it belonged to until he finally looked up, only to see a rather lankey person in a blue hat looking back down at him.  
“And it's two, seventy five for each so I wouldn't be relying on that bum to buy it if I was you” The blue hat man pointed at Kenny, a look of disgust on his face. The dirty haired blonde just smiled as he waved flirty. “Oh Craig, are you talking about lil ol me again?”  
The man behind the counter huffed  
“Gee, I don't know. Let me just pull out this tab to see” He pulled out a piece of rather long paper out. That made Ken silent, but only for a moment  
“Craig, Baby! You know I would pay if I could! I just...Money is short?”  
“Oh, I'm terribly sorry you're not getting paid millions of dollars to run around in your underwear.”  
“Hey if I wasn't running around in my underwear, your ass would have been fucked” the man sneered.  
Craig simply shrugged, “There’s a chance that may be true, but why boost your self esteem?”  
Ken could only shake his head, not that he didn't expect that from Craig. The man was never good at expressing gratitude, actually just feelings for that matter. Fortunately, Kenny didn't need him to show any kinds of thank. After all, Craig has yet to kick him out despite his rather large tab.  
“So what brings you three here? If you need some place to hide for kidnapping, we don't have a place for fugitives” the raven haired man stated, pointing at the little pipsqueak in front of him.  
“Well actually, we're here cause there something about the kid--” Kyle began before Kenny butted it in.  
“Hmph, not that y'all seem to want anything to do with kids lately.” Ken snarked pointing at the new sign on the door.  
“Oh yeah...about that--”  
All of a sudden a door next to Craig swung open and a rather stressed out skinny wild haired blonde stormed in. “CRAIG, WHY IS THERE ALL KINDS OF HOLES IN THE COFFEE BAGS!? HAVE YOU BEEN LETTING STRIPE IN THE KITCHEN AGA--” The man stopped as he eyed the child that was behind the counter.  
“OH GOD, THERE'S A KID HERE!?” 

Hearing that, Butters immediately ran away, running for safety behind Ken's legs. Oh no, Now he was gonna be kicked out! That crazy person will surely be furious!  
Wait...he seemed...more scared then angry.  
“OH JESUS, NOT AGAIN! I CAN'T AFFORD TO REPLACE ANYMORE MACHINERY HERE” Craig soon put a hand on the new person.  
“Tweek, calm down. He's with Ken and Kyle.”  
That didn't seem to be enough to soothe the blonde  
“Something’s gonna break! I know it, BUT IT'LL STILL BE MY FAULT AND, AND--” Craig shushed the shaking man “Babe, it wasn't your fault then, and it still ain't. Look, how about we take your mind off of it. Yo, are you guys getting something? No lounging around here!”  
Guess it was finally time to order. Kyle picked up the menu on the table.  
“Let's see...I'll just have some strawberry crepes and some tea”  
“What a filling meal” Ken joked, which got him a nice middle finger from Kyle in return.  
He soon picked up Butters so he could look at the menu. “What about you dude? See anything ya want?”  
Leo was more than eager to immediately look at the desserts. Pointing at every chocolate thing that appeared in eyesight  
“I want that, and that, and ooo two of these, and this looks yummy! And can I have that with whip cream and--”  
Kyle put a hand up. “Whoa, slow down there bucko! How about ordering some breakfast, and then you can have ONE dessert”  
The boy look disheartened at that.  
“But...But Kenny said I could yet whatever I wanted!”  
“Yes but did Kenny also tell you I'm the one paying for all of this?”  
Kyle eyed the man he was referring to. Kenny just looked down at the ground, as he tried to laugh it off. “Well I mean...I guess I could pay for the desserts”  
“HA”  
Hearing that nasally voice, Ken immediately spun around to glare at the unforgiving smile on Craig's face. So he wasn't exactly making it rain money, that didn't mean he was incapable of paying for things! It's just…Friends are supposed to have your back right?  
Soon, The orange parka man felt a tug at his jacket, he looked at Butters only to be immediately greeted with sad puppy eyes.  
“Will you pay for the desserts Kenny? Pretty please! Then we could have all the cake and chocolate we want! Pretty please?  
Uh oh, Puppy eyes were always the man's weakness! Karen could pull those and he was putty in her hands instantly. Between those sad eyes and Craig's snarky remarks, it felt like Ken's dignity was on the line. He looked at Kyle, but the redhead immediately put the menu up to his face as if he was really interested in the coffee of the day.  
After that, Ken huffed. He didn't need Kyle to back him up! He wasn't that poor kid that had to rent out the garage to crackheads anymore! He could pay for his own shit!  
“You know what? Not only am I paying for the desserts, I'm paying for mines AND Butters meals!” He held his chin up high in triumph. Butters looked amazed, Kyle gave him a side glance from behind the menu, Craig folded his arms and slowly shook his head. 

Butters soon spoke up, still looking rather impressed.  
“Golly Ken! I can't believe you're gonna pay for our meals and desserts! You must be so rich!”  
“Don't encourage him” Kyle said from the menu. Kenny didn't hear him however as he was still gloating  
“That's right little buddy! I’m paying for it all, ! Your meal, mines, and how many sweets you wa--”  
It was like a switch went off in Ken's brain as he finally realized what he was saying, (“What the fuck am I saying!? I can barely pay rent this week!”)  
The man began to sputter, his eyes darting around the room.  
“Ummm...how about you get a ummm…” He took a quick glance for the cheapest thing on the menu.  
“Ooo doesn't a croissant sound good? Maybe some bacon, and some apple juice! Mm mm mm! Delicious!”  
“But...But I never--”  
“Of course it does! Craig the kid will have that, and I will have…a blueberry muffin and some coffee please!” 

It was then Tweek twitched a bit, before his face darkened. “We're out of coffee.” He said dryly, before making his way to the kitchen door  
“Make sure HE doesn't touch ANYTHING” He said, pointing an accusing finger at Butters before disappearing behind the door.  
Now it was Ken's turn to get upset, holding Butters a little more defensively.  
“Dafuq is his problem? Did some blonde kid that look like Butters beat his mom or something!?”  
Craig sighed as he made his way around the counter.  
“Go easy on him man, he's been through some shit for the past week. You don't understand.”  
“Maybe we could if you told us” Kyle spoke up, finally coming out of hiding from behind the menu  
“Yeah, I'd sure like to know why Tweek is acting Butters is a hellspawn”  
Ken retorted.  
“It's not fair to Butters and you know it”  
Craig nodded at this.  
“Yeah, guess you're right...alright, guess I should fill ya in.” The blue hat man took a seat in the booth. Ken, taking a chair from the table across the booth put Butters comfortably in his lap.

“It was last week, a Friday in fact. It was almost closing time when some entitled pricks barged in with like 7 kids. You could tell they had just got done playing soccer or some shit cause they were all in uniform, sweaty and filthy. It was complete chaos! As if it wasn't bad enough the world's bitchiest woman was yelling about hurrying up because she was just SO DAMN BUSY! Those little gremlins were all over place! You should've seen them, fucking hopping on tables and knocking over shit. One of them even took the time to rip all our little sugar packets open just to dump the sugar on the table!”  
Kyle and Ken looked even more invested into this story, Butters however looked rather uncomfortable. The child had buried his face into Kenny's jacket as if he was humiliated by the story.  
“Man, That sure must have been a wave of emotions for Tweek” it was the only thing Kyle could say, the blonde was already panicky enough, he must have surely been close to fainting or breaking down in the middle of all this!  
Craig simply nodded, “Yeah, that wasn't even the worst part. So while I was taking orders, and Tweek was getting started on the orders. Neither one of us noticed that one of the little parasites snuck into the back! Before Tweek could even react, BAM! The little brat knocked over the coffee machine and broke it. Little pieces of it was everywhere!”  
It was like telling the story was making Craig become more bitter as he refused to make eye contact with Ken and Kyle anymore.  
“Despite neither one of them wasn't paying attention to the kid. Those pieces of shit still had the audacity to cuss us out, saying our workplace shouldn't be so “ACCESSIBLE” to kids! Not only did the assholes not pay for all the food Tweek was able to make, they refused to pay for the damage the child caused, and even threatened to sue for child endangerment. Tweek was totally freaking out about the whole thing all weekend. He refused to even look at his phone in fear of getting a notification about getting sued. But on Monday, it was like something snapped. Cause then, he just put up that sign without saying a word.”  
Craig pointed at the no kids sign.  
“To be honest...it's rather sad to see this happen. Tweek loved kids! Before we'd open he'd leave crayons out for the kids. After work, he'd collect all the pictures and pin them on the wall. When the kids came and pointed out their drawings he would hand out free brownies for each drawing.”  
Remembering this, the man sadly chuckled.  
“Now, As soon Tweek sees a kid he just...freezes up. Looking as if he's waiting for it to beat him up for lunch money or something” Craig leaned back in his chair once he had finished, awaiting how Ken and Kyle would respond.

After taking all this in, Kyle’s expression softened.  
“Well...guess it's understandable why he's a little on the cautious side...Man, just imagining it ticks me off, Experiencing it first hand though?”  
The redhead quickly to a breather to avoid thinking about further.  
While Kyle was accepting. Kenny seemed to be somewhere in the middle.  
“Look, it is fucked up what those people did. And fuck those two in particular. But...one bad experience shouldn't just make all kids demons!” Ken didn't even realize Butters had completely hid his face.  
It really was fucked that that happened to Tweek...but most kids were cool! Heck, Butters was the greatest kid Ken has ever met! But…then again...from what Craig was saying that experience was a fucking nightmare. And for Tweek...the poor guy probably did have flashbacks to that day...and who knows if those people were still around? Probably fucking over another innocent business.  
It was a very confusing debate for Kenny, and Craig obviously didn't what to believe himself. He could only shrug at Ken's statement.  
“I don't know man...if you ask me, I think his dad had a part in this as well…The man is always filling his head up with bullshit! You wouldn't believe the nonsense he was spewing when Tweek first took over the business! Now remember Tweek, midgets might act like kids to get the discount. Remember Tweek, make sure the person is at least 60 before giving the them the senior special, Remember Tweek, if someone kidnaps you while you're working be sure TO FUCKING MAKE GOOD COFFEE IN CASE THEY DECIDE THEY MIGHT FUCKING COME BACK FOR MORE!”  
The man pinched the bridge of his nose.  
“I swear, just hearing his voice gives me a migraine. The worst part is, Tweek eats that shit up and takes it to heart! No matter how many times I tell him how ridiculous his dad is he just comes back, BUT IT COULD HAPPEN CRAIG! And I can guarantee you, this situation only worsened it.”  
After his rant was over, Craig had finally took the time to look at the little blonde in Kenny's arms. The child definitely did not look like he wanted dessert, or anything to eat anymore. He looked like a guilty puppy, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.  
Craig took a minute to truly get a good look at the child before scooting the chair a little closer.  
“But perhaps...there's still a chance. Who knows? Maybe a special kid will come in change his mind, perhaps show him kids are still pretty great. Perhaps a little blonde”  
Hearing this, Butters slowly glanced up, which made Craig give him a half smile. Something he wasn't well known for doing. But as quickly as he did, he returned back to his blank expression.  
“But enough about that. Since I explained our situation, I think it's your turn.”  
Kyle and Kenny looked at each other for a second.  
“Should we?” Kyle asked in rather nervous tone.  
Kenny nodded, “Why not? Heck who knows, we might need a place to lay low!” Ken honestly wasn't sure how much of that was a joke.  
“Can't make promises McCormick, let's see how this story goes first.”  
And so Kenny told Craig what had happened. He told him about finding Butters, how the parents never answered the door. He told him about the stuff Butters said at dinner and how the next night he was somehow able to get out the house and was almost attacked.  
The whole time he listened, Craig kept taking a peek at the little blonde. Butters squirmed in Ken's arms, once in a while he looked as if he wanted to say something but immediately stopped himself.  
Once Kenny had finished, Craig took a minute to take everything in. Finally, he spoke up.  
“Huh, well I can't say I could find myself being someone’s babysitter for free” His flat tone made it hard to believe he was kidding.  
But he seemed rather interested in this. Standing up, the man went up to Kenny and bent down so he was eye to eye with Butters.  
“You looked like you wanted to say something the whole time little fella, wanna tell ol Craig something?”  
The child just twiddled his thumbs shyly. He didn't dare to make a peep, as if there was a gun at his head. Craig wasn't willing to give up just yet though.  
“Come on pal, you can tell me! I won't tell anyone!” Craig was doing his best to try to sound friendly, that no kid sign surely made Butters feel very unwelcomed and certainly made him feel like he was in hostile territory.  
There had to be a way to gain his trust! It was then Craig eyed the display glass filled with all kinds of treats. A light bulb went on as he casually slid behind the counter and opened the glass door. 

Butters sat up a little once he saw some chocolate chip cookies in Craig’s hand making their way to him. His stomach was practically begging the sweets.  
This was his chance, Craig took a cookie from the plate and held it out towards Butters.  
“These cookies were baked today, they're still nice and fresh. You can have some. If ya talk to me” Fortunately Tweek wasn't around, he would not be happy to see Craig handing out food just to get some info.  
Leo looked at the cookie, then at Craig. He bit his lip, as if he wanted to tell Craig everything!  
Those cookies smelled yummy! But...but he couldn't say anything, or could he? No! He shouldn't! But then again…  
“I-I can't tell you!”  
“Can't tell me what?”  
“I...I can't say. Dad said never tell!”  
That statement made Ken and Kyle sit up a little straighter.  
“What do you mean your dad said not to tell?” Kyle began before Craig shushed him, not wanting to make Butters nervous.  
“I can't tell cause Bad things will happen if you tell anyone young man!” Butters replied in a stern and aggressive tone.  
“That's a threat if I ever heard one” Ken huffed, disliking Butters dad more and more.  
“No...he's right...bad things will happen. They always do.”  
Butters focus was now on the plate of cookies.  
“If I wasn't being so gosh darn bad I wouldn't had had to sleep out in the shed that night--”  
“Wait what?”  
Whoops! He wasn't supposed to say all that. The boy's eyes grew big as now all 3 adults looked at him. Looks like he had messed up.

“Butters...that night I found you, Your dad was the one that made you stay out there in the first place?”  
Panic was starting to grow in the child as he hopped down from Kenny's lap, holding his hands up defensively.  
“N-Now fellers...I know ya must be thinking my dad is a bad person...but it wasn't his fault! I had it coming! I was being a ungrateful brat, I had to learn my lesson! It's not the worst punishment he gave me!”  
“Not the worst!?”  
Oh god, this wasn't looking good at all. Butters felt like any wrong word will be the end of him as now all 3 adults were getting even more concerned.  
“Butters does he put his hands on you?”  
“Does he refuse to feed you?”  
“Doe he leave you outside to defend yourself all the time?”

It was dinner all over again, Why couldn't they understand? He couldn't tell even if he wanted to!  
As questions spewed left and right, Butters remained completely silent, if he kept talking it'll make things worst! The three finally gave up on trying to get the child to talk.  
“He's not gonna say”  
“It's pretty easy to tell though, who's knows what that man does to him”  
The whole time they talked among themselves, Butters didn't make a peep, his head was hung down, he didn't want to see the concern faces. He was fine...He was fine! He's a tough fella, he wasn't scared of anything!  
“Dude maybe we should call the cops?”  
The minute Kyle said that sentence, it was like Butters whole world came crashing down.

“NO! NO NO NO, DON'T TELL THEM! PLEASE DON'T TELL ON MY DAAAAD!” The child burst into tears, which cause all three men to jump.  
“PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! HE'LL BE UPSET IF THEY FIND OUT! I-I-I DON'T WANT HIM TO GET IN TROUBLE” The little blonde was blubbering now. He was beginning to shake violently, his breathing getting bad.  
Uh oh, Butters did this last time when Kenny mentioned doing something about the situation.  
Seeing the child panic, Kenny immediately went to comfort him. He had his arms out ready to pick Butters up, using a low voice to get him to calm down.  
“Hey there, it's okay Butters. Calm down buddy…it's okay. Take a deep breath buddy, everything will be fin--”  
Butters backed up quickly, dismissing all of Ken's words.  
“NO, YOU’RE GONNA TELL ON MY DAD, AND HE'S GONNA GET UPSET! HE'LL...HE'LL…”  
Butters couldn't even finish his sentence.  
“YOU CAN'T TELL, YOU JUST CAN'T!”  
“Butters listen--”  
“NO”  
“What your dad is doing is wrong--”  
“NOOO”  
“We're just worry Butters and”  
“NOOOOOO”  
Leo wasn't trying to hear it. It was starting to get under Craig's skin  
“Dammit Butters, would ya just listen? We're trying to help you! You're not in a good environment! You shouldn't have to endure the shit your dad puts you through! Just let us help!”

“NO, YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T HELP, NO ONE CAN! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES WHO WANT TO! DAD WILL FIND OUT, HE'LL GET  
UPSET! HE ALWAYS DOES! AND JUST…”  
Butters was losing his voice and energy, he softly cried as he hugged himself. “please...please don't help me…”  
The child looked so defeated, his face red and wet from all the crying.  
It was quiet for a moment, besides Butters sniffling.  
It was Craig who spoke up.  
“Butter I know you're scared but you can't expect us not to do anything--”  
“Craig, enough”  
Everyone looked up, only to see a familiar skinny blonde walk out the kitchen door.  
“You're stressing him out, he's just a child.”  
“But Tweek--”  
“Helping him should not include making him cry!”  
Tweek seemed to be in full mother mode now, Upon approaching Butters, he held his arms out.  
The child didn't hesitate to hop into his arm.  
“I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry…” He kept muttering as he clung onto Tweek for dear life. The messy haired blonde hushed him, rocking the little one back and forth. He glared at the three men in front of him, like a mom figuring out who broke the vase.  
“You're putting too much pressure on the little guy, there's obviously more to this then ya think. I know you're all worried, but you just can't pounce on him with questions left and right! And you shouldn't bribe him with junk food either.”  
It was Craig to get the full stink eye from Tweek, guess the blonde had heard more than they thought.  
The blonde man wasn't through though.  
“Stuff like this, you just can't spring into action and get the bad guy by dinner time! It can take quite a lot of process. It's hard...but without any actual proof, calling the cops and overwhelming the poor thing isn't going to get you nowhere!”

Tweek looked down at the sniffling boy in his hands, Butters was finally calming down and was now looking around the area. It was as if he was in another world, his eyes wandering around aimlessly.  
“I think you three owe him an apology” 

Maybe Tweek was right...maybe they was moving too quickly, this dad problem was something neither of them really knew about.  
If it makes Butters freak out like this, then it definitely wasn't something to be taken lightly.  
The three men, kinda looked among each other, before Tweek tapped his foot impatiently.  
“Well?”  
“Sorry Butters” They said at the same time, looking equally guilty.  
That seemed to appease Tweek and Butters had completely finished crying, wiping away at his face. Tweek softly smiled at the child.  
“How about after we get you cleaned up and eat breakfast, you can help me make some cupcakes? We’ll even make extras just for you!”  
That cheered the tot up immediately, his eyes lighting up  
“Really? Just for me?”  
“Just for you pal”  
Tweek laughed, giving Butters a little boop on the nose, which caused the child to giggle instantly.  
Kenny, Kyle, and Craig could only watch the two. Tweek began lightly toss Butters into the air, the small blonde laughed away. It was like a father playing with his son.  
Kenny soon looked over at Craig who was smiling.  
“So Craig, is this still the same Tweek from last week?”  
Craig shook his head as he folded his arms.  
“Can't say I remember this one.”  
“Guess you weren't wrong about a little blonde being able to change his feelings huh?”  
“Too bad it wasn't me though.”  
Craig tried to stifle a laugh as he flipped Ken off.  
“Shut it McCormick”  
Not even Ken's obnoxious remarks could ruin this for Craig, to think when things felt like it was gonna get worse, Butters appeared and it was like someone hit a reset button. It was funny honestly, was this kid really special? It was hard to tell, but one thing's for sure,  
“I have a feeling that no kids rule won’t be around here much longer.”


	6. The day's just begun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more Kyle and Ken learns about Butters, the closer they get to solving this case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna give a shout out to my friend keehal who was a major help in making this chapter! They been a real big help and I'm so glad that they'll be helping me with future chapters! <3

The rest of day was tears free. Tweek had made Butters his honorary little helper, and had him help out in the kitchen. That left Ken, Craig and Kyle alone to talk about the other stuff that had happened in life. About 20 minutes later the two had came in with 3 trays. Tweek holding two and Butters holding one with so much pride.  
He skipped happily to the table setting the plate down in front Kenny. Ken took the time to look at the food, there was 3 scrambled eggs, some VERY crispy bacon, and some toast that looked as if it was made by a flamethrower.  
“Hmmm, none of this looks like a muffin.” Ken said, poking at the eggs as if they would move, they were the only thing that actually looked edible.  
It was then Butters couldn't seem to keep in his excitement. “I made it just for you Kenny! Coffee buddy let me cook and I got to make your food all by myself!”  
Kyle raised an eyebrow.  
“Coffee buddy?”  
“Yep! We were talking about things we liked, he's coffee buddy and I'm hamster pal!” The boy bounced about happily before looking at Kenny.  
“Come on Ken, try it! You're gonna love it! Mr Tweek said so!”  
Kenny glanced over at Tweek, something about that smile looked more devilish than it was suppose to.  
“All of it you say?” How was it that the eggs looked all the way done? Were they spit on, did Stripe get run all over them? No way these things weren’t tampered with. Though...they did look good...What the heck, Ken’s had worse right? He finally decided to take the chance, scooping some up in a fork.  
It was then Butters looked down sheepishly.  
“Well actually...he cooked the eggs cause I'm not old enough, but he let me put the salt on them!”  
Just as Butters had said that, Kenny had taken a bite out the eggs. He began to cough uncontrollably. Yep, there it was. These things tasted like the whole container was dropped on them! The man gagged a little but was able to force a smile  
“Boy, this sure is...nice of you to this Butters! But you didn't have to”  
Soon, there was snickering. Ken looked over to see Kyle and Craig in tears as they were failing to hide their laughter over his situation. The man scowled at the two as they giggled away like school girls. Both looking as if they would explode if they kept it in any longer.  
Butters didn't seem to notice them however, hopping into the seat next to Ken.  
“I wanted to make it just for you! Cause you're really nice and you're my 4th best friend!”  
“Wow only 4th?” Ken pretended to be hurt.  
“Who could possibly be better then the guy who let you eat count chocula while watching cartoons?”  
Butters twiddled his thumbs “Well...there was that time my bestest bestest friend took me to Casa Bonita”  
“You got me there” Ken definitely couldn't afford something like that! That's 3 months of rent right there.  
“Less questions and more eating” Tweek jumped in, putting down a plate in front of Butters. It had french toast, two eggs and two sausage links that actually looked appetizing. Kenny could already hear his wallet crying.  
“Geez, I definitely don't remember ordering tha--”  
“Don't worry Richie Rich, it's on the house.” Tweek chuckled, giving Butters a little pat on the head. “We can say it's for giving me the best helper in the kitchen.”  
It was Craig turn to be hurt, putting a hand over his chest as he let out a gasp  
“Oh heavens! Are you saying my help isn't useful?”  
“If help, you mean sitting on your phone for most of the day then yes”  
Oh heavens, I'm TERRIBLY sorry! I promise I'll make it up to you Tweek! I’ll dust out the chimney and wax the floors before sundown!”  
Tweek crossed his arms  
“I'd love to see that, otherwise Butters will be making your meals as well.”  
The child beamed once he was mentioned  
“Ooo, can I make dinner? Oh! What about something special? Like sushi!”  
That made Craig seize his mockery, immediately putting his hands up defensively “Tha-That's okay little dude! I was planning on ummmmm...taking Tweek out tonight! We're going to a nice fancy restaurant! After I close up shop that is!”  
Craig plastered a smile as Tweek approached him. The blonde planted a peck on his cheek  
“Aw, why thank you Craig! You sure do know how to treat a man” Tweek smiled sweetly.  
Kyle was was next to get his meal, a crepe was placed down in front of him. Ken looked it over, nothing didn't seem to be burnt or over salted  
“Did Butters make Kyle's as well?”  
Tweek shook his head  
“I figured it was only fair to let Butters make yours. You know, since Kyle actually was paying me to make his and all”  
Kenny huffed,n before looking up at Kyle. The redhead didn't hesitate to stick his tongue out  
the minute he and Ken made eye contact.  
The dirty haired blonde only huffed, taking another bite out of the salty eggs. Guess it was better than guinea pig poop right?

After everyone had finished their breakfast, Tweek and Butters began to draw and chatter, while the other three men seemed distracted on their phones. Well, it was mostly Butters that was doing the talking. The child had yet to take a breathe as he began talking about everything he could think of. He talked about school, and what he did there. He talked about things that happened in walmart. He talked about an old lady who makes him cookies. He talked about the one time he tried to fly with a umbrella and failed miserably.  
Yep, nothing too out of the ordinary for a child. However, it wasn't until he started talking about him and his family that the three men slowly peeked from their phones.  
“You mean all we had to do was put crayons in front of him to get him to talk?” Craig whispered.  
“Shhh, let's see what he says” Kyle shushed, now looking obvious he wasn't interested in his phone anymore.  
The three remained quiet as Butters talked to Tweek, who nodded his head and replied with a “oh?” once in a while.  
They were able to learn Butter's full name was Leopold Butters Stotch, he was six years old. And had family scattered in quite far away places including Hawaii and California.  
Kenny and Kyle took note of this.  
“Man...these places sure aren't close around here that's for sure…”  
“Little fella couldn't escape if he wanted to! Is there really no one close around?”  
“Not from what I'm hearing...”  
Butters talked away, he especially liked talking about an aunt Nellie. From the look of it, she was the nicest to him of all the family members.  
“Aunt Nellie is the greatest! When I visit, we get to go to so many fun places! I even got to take a picture with a really famous person! It was so cool!”  
Craig nodded in approval. “Man, his aunt is way cooler than mine. I think the last interesting thing she's done was fall off the diving board and body slammed this dude in the pool.”  
“My aunt sued a McDonald's once.” Kyle shrugged, it wasn't nothing too big, the cashier was being a pig was all.  
“My aunt knows how to make rats house broken” Ken said, maybe a little too proudly, Which caused Kyle and Craig to look at him with equal expressions of disgust, yet no sign of surprise.

It was another 10 minutes before Butters was finally done drawing, and talking for that matter. Or maybe he had ran out of good things to talk about? Either way, he went completely quiet before holding his picture up high and mighty.  
He smiled big as he turned to the three across from him and Tweek. “Do y'all wanna see what I made?” He asked excited, though it wouldn't have mattered if they had said yes or no cause he was already running up to them, picture out and free for anyone in eyesight to see. 

“What do you think? Doesn't it look awesome?” The child beamed, awaiting for an answer.  
It was hard for the three to process what it was they were looking at. There seemed to be a child in the middle. And all kinds of pink, brown, and green circles everywhere along with little light brown scribbles.  
“Hmmm yes, this is a...drawing, Butters.” Ken said, squinting his eyes hoping to make something out of this.  
“Yes...a mighty well drawing at that.” Kyle replied, giving a crooked smile.  
While Ken and Kyle were doing their best to try to be nice, Craig was not afraid to question the artist. Pointing at random blobs.  
“What's that?” He asked pointing at the pink blob.  
Butters looked over to where Craig pointed  
“Oh, That's strawberry ice cream silly!”  
Craig continued his investigation.  
“And that?”  
“That's chocolate ice cream!”  
“And this green with the black spots?”  
“That's mint chocolate ice cream! Don't you know your ice creams, Mr Craig?”  
Craig only rolled his eyes.  
“Man you’re right, how silly of me to forget that mint chocolate ice cream had big spots in them.”  
Before Craig decided to ask more questions, Butters began to point at the rest of the parts of the picture.  
“That's me, and all my favorite ice cream! And hamsters everywhere! Cause they make me happy!”  
Craig looked at the little brown spots Butters pointed at.  
“That's a hamster?” He questioned again, squinting his eyes to get a better look.  
“Craig don't be rude!” Tweek snapped at the man.  
“Butters worked really hard on that! It's a very lovely picture, in fact, it’s so lovely it deserves to be hanged up where everyone can see it!”  
Taking Butters hand, Tweek led the child over to an empty board behind the counter.  
“If we pin it up here, everyone can see your drawing Butter! What do ya say, wanna hang it up?”  
The child's eyes immediately lit.  
“YES YES YES! I WANNA HANG IT UP!” He bounced about excitedly, which got a chuckle out of Tweek.  
“Alright lil buddy, let's get it pinned!” Grabbing a paper pin, the taller blonde took the picture from Butters, and pinned it right in the middle.  
“There! Right there for everyone to see!”  
Butters let a gasp, before he squealed.  
“IT'S PERFECT!”  
The boy took a step back to really enjoy the view. His picture was up there, His!  
The child couldn't contain his excitement any longer, he ran over to Tweek and hugged his leg.  
“THANK YOU THANK YOU! YOU'RE THE GREATEST, COFFEE BUDDY!” 

Tweek was completely silent as Butters hugged him. The man wasn't sure how to react, it was like a wave of feelings were rushing through him. It was like...he wanted to smile, to cry, to twitch all at the same time! But in the end, he bent down to hug the child back. “You’re welcome pal! You deserve it, you're a great kid!” 

Once the two finish hugging, Kyle cleared his throat.  
“Well now that we're all done eating, I think it's bout time to get out of your hair!” He looked over to Ken who nodded in agreement.  
“Yep! Time for us to get on with the day!”  
Tweek gave Butter's hair a ruffle before standing up. “It was nice having you guys! Been a while since we had a enjoyable day here.”  
The child giggled as hair was fluffed. He soon scurried over to Ken and Kyle just as they were standing up. “This was so much! Can we come back again? Please, please, please!”  
Kenny laughed picking up the child.  
“I don't see why not! Heck, maybe we could even come back soon!” Maybe dinner would be better than breakfast.  
Soon, the three waved farewell to the couple.  
“Bye Mr. Tweek! It was so much fun drawing with you!” Butters called out, as they opened the door to leave.  
“Bye Butters! You're free to come back anytime hamster pal!” Tweek called back, just as the door was closed.

“Alright gang, what's the plan for today?” Kenny asked as they started to make their way to the cars.  
Kyle pulled out his phone. “Well there’s a movie we can catch sounds pretty good! Why don't we--”  
“Wait...what time is it?” Butters chimed in looking a little nervous.  
“It's about...12:30” Kyle answered.  
Dang, they were in Tweak bros a little longer than he had planned.  
“Something up kiddo?” Ken asked, as Butters was beginning to look a little frantic now.  
“I-I need to go home!” The child exclaimed, starting to squirm.  
“I need to go home now Ken!”  
“Hey hey hey, what's the rush?” The man had to do his best to keep the child from wriggling out of his grip and dropping on to the pavement.  
“I ummm...I need to get ready for school tomorrow!”  
“This early in the day?”  
“Please Ken, I really need to go! Please!”  
This had his dad written all over it...but Kenny couldn't ask even if he wanted to. Butters was already beginning to panicking.  
“Hey, Okay okay! We'll take you home bud, calm down!” So much for the movies, Ken looked over at Kyle guilty. Kyle just gave a understanding nod. “We can always watch it when it comes out on Blu ray” He shrugged.  
Like Tweek has said, Butters was going through a lot. No need to stress him out more.  
So it was relieving when the child quickly calmed down after Kenny said he'd take him home.  
“Welp, guess I’ll see ya later Butters. Good luck at home, dude!” Kyle said before heading over to his car.  
Butters waved goodbye. It seemed his little tantrum just now took away most of his energy as he was rather quiet. Even when Ken had put him in the car and drove off, Butters was oddly quiet. 

The man kept glancing over at the child, waiting for any kind of noise to escape from his mouth. However...nothing did, it seems Butters was in a completely different world as he stared out the window. His eyes looked so blank, as if all the happiness he had was just brutally snatched from his body.  
The atmosphere was so tense, it was rather uncomfortable for Kenny. Which was why he finally cleared his throat.  
“So...how's school?” Hey it was better than nothing right?  
Plus it seem to snap Butters back to reality as he looked up at the man.  
“Oh! It’s...It's good.”  
“Do ya...Do ya like your classes?”  
“Yeah, I mean...reading is a little boring...but art is my favorite! Me and my friends always have fun!”  
Hm, So far so good.  
“You sure do like to draw huh?”  
“Yeah! Drawings so much fun! My teacher when got me one of those sketchy books so I can draw whenever!”  
“Oh really? Maybe you'll let me see it one day? Maybe we could draw something together even!”  
“Really, Ken?” That put a little spark back in the child's eyes.  
“I mean...I'm no artist, but maybe you can teach me some of your skills!” With Butters help, Ken too can make beautiful pink and brown blobs!  
“Yes! That'd be so much fun, Ken! I'll even bring my crayons! And don't worry, I have all sixty four of them, cause big boys don't lose their crayons!”  
“Well look at you being responsible” Ken chuckled, giving the boy a pat.  
It was nice to see Butters cheering up again!  
That was until they finally reached his street. Kenny stopped at the end corner of the street, and got Butters out the car.  
The blonde child went quiet again as they walked to his house. Upon seeing the house, a very unsettling aura started to emerge that made Ken's skin crawl.  
Meanwhile Butters looked at the place as if he was returning back to prison. He looked up at Kenny with sad eyes. “Bye Kenny, Thanks for taking me to breakfast!”  
Butters just sounded so miserable. It pained Ken for him to have to just leave the child here.  
There had to be something he could do to give him a little happiness.  
“Hey…how about tomorrow...I pick ya up from school?”  
“Wait, really?” There was that smile!  
“Sure kiddo, why not?” It was obvious Butters went to South Park elementary. Kenny had that place remembered so easily. He knew that school like the back of his head.  
“Assuming you get out at 3, I'll be there waiting for ya”  
The smaller blonde quickly nodded his head.  
“Okay! Oh boy! I never got to be picked up from school before!”  
It was good to see Butters hopping all over the place again before he took off to his house.  
“See ya tomorrow Kenny! Don't be late!”  
The man waved at the child. “Don't worry, I'll be there before the bell rings!”  
He soon began walking back to his car.  
Once he got to his car, Ken let out a sigh.  
“Welp, this sure is costing me gas”  
Now he really couldn't afford to be late, He was used to disappointing Kyle, but that wasn't gonna be the case with Butters though. This he vowed.

Opening the door to his apartment, Ken looked around the small cluttered place. It looked so...empty. Not that he was unfamiliar with it, but today it felt... wrong. No giggling, No cartoons playing through the halls. As he walked in, he tripped over a empty bowl. The dish turned upside down as a spoon flew from out.  
Whoops, how long had that been there?  
As the man picked the bowl up, he began to chuckle.  
“Pour the milk in first, it keeps the cereal crunchy” Man, Butters was so shy that whole time, but would be damned if that cereal got poured in first. He definitely wasn't afraid to speak up when he wanted to. And how he could literally chatter about everything, it was pretty gosh darn cute! That boy could make a 100 page essay on why hamsters were the best and--  
WAIT.  
It was like Kenny had an epiphany.  
“Whoa whoa whoa, Ken! You can't be getting attached to this kid that fast or anything! You only knew him for two days! And who knows how long you’ll be able to see him!?”  
Despite he said it, it hurt a lot to...but it was true. If there was a chance they could get Butters away from his parents, who knows what would happen to him? Maybe he'll get to live with his aunt! Far far away...away from all his friends...Tweek wouldn't be able to see him again...Neither would Kyle...Or even--  
The blonde closed his eyes.  
“At the end of the day… it would be better for him.”  
And that was that. It was best not to think about it for too long...Right now, he had the rest of the day to himself. No one to wake him up, no one to take home, he was a free man! He could do whatever he wanted!  
“...”  
“...Guess I'll just find some movies and order a pizza”  
Yep, a free man.

There was no crimes, or anymore children running around tonight, leaving ken with really nothing else to do. He looked at his phone, it was only 10am. He didn't feel tired...but why not get to bed early? Might as well. It would help him actually wake up in the morning to get the day started before he had to go pick up Butters.  
Who knows? Maybe Kyle would call him in the morning, maybe need him to do something? It was Kenny's best excuse as he climbed into bed.  
He thought once he closed his eyes, he'd easily fall asleep, but now there was a million questions and thoughts circling his head. Most of them were focused on the little blonde child.  
“Is Butters okay now?”  
“What if he's hurt?”  
“Can we really help him?”  
“What if it’s too late though?”  
“What would happen if we do?”  
“Will he be okay--”  
The man groaned, putting his pillow over his face, why was it so hard for him to just sleep soundly lately?

That morning, Ken was surprised to see he had slept to 12. Wow, it was so weird not to have Butters barge into his room demanding cereal. Huh, who would've thought he made a good alarm clock's?  
Speaking of Butters, so much for getting up early! Now Ken only had 3 hours to get ready and get to the school!  
He didn't have time to waste, jumping out of bed, he made a mad dash for the shower, it was time to get the day started!

Kenny ended up getting to the school at 2:50, he still had 10 minutes! Who would've thought he'd be early?  
Hopping out the car, began to make his way to the school. Man, it's been a long time since he was here and yet everything still looked the same! Seeing those double doors made him feel so old.  
“Welp...the kids will he out soon, might as sell wait here.” Pulling out his phone, he began to type away, awaiting for the bell.

Ken stood at the double doors the kids would soon be pouring out of. He sure hoped he didn't look suspicious or anything as he casually waited for the bell to ring.  
"Man, I must look like a fucking drug dealer or something" The man thought as he began to rock back and forth rather uncomfortably now. Man, why did 10 minutes feel like forever? But finally, the bell rang, and kids began to run through the doors. All kinds of kids, shapes and grades ran by him, chattering and screaming as they excitedly made their way ways to their transportation. Soon, the one child he was looking for came into vision. Ken smiled, waving the boy over.  
Upon seeing the taller blonde the child immediately ran to his side.  
"Kenny! You came!" Butters said, hugging the man's leg.  
"What, you thought I was gonna leave you out to dry?"  
Ken chuckled, giving the child a light pat on the head.  
Soon Butters released his leg and grabbed his hand.  
"Kenny, you gotta meet my friends quickly! Come on, they're over there!" He gestured, yanking the man behind him.  
The child soon led Ken over to a small group of kids.  
"Hey fellers! This is my friend Kenny I was telling you about!" He chirped enthusiastically.  
The three looked up at the man.

The tallest of the three boys was the first to speak up once he was introduced to Kenny. "Hi! I'm Sthcott Malkinsthon!" He lisped enthusiastically and waved to the taller man. There wasn't any sign of hesitation or suspicion coming from his tone of voice. "Nicthe to meet you, sthir."  
Scott seemed to share the same radiation of enthusiasm as Butters, smiling optimistically throughout his entire greeting. And he seemed decently normal for the most part. The only part that would have stuck out to Kenny were the odd points where he would have his tongue out before or in the middle of his sentences, but it must be what causes his lisp. So he doesn't have it out for the sake of being like a smug entitled kid or anything.  
Kenny returned the greeting.  
"Nice to meet you Sthcott!" Huh, not a name he was familiar with but maybe the kid was foreign? It was then that Butters quickly yanked on his sleeve again. The man ducked down to Butters’ level. "Sup, partner?"  
The small blonde leaned in close to Ken's ear.  
"His name is Scott, Kenny! He can't really pronounce some words right cause he has this thing called a lisp."  
"OH!" Now Kenny just felt embarrassed, quickly standing up straight and scratching his hair embarrassingly. "I-I meant Scott! I'm sorry bud. I ummm...didn't hear it the first time." Whoops, that probably didn't make it better. Butters seemed to notice Ken's nervousness, because he quickly moved on to a rather small redheaded kid with glasses.  
"This is my other friend Dougie!"  
Ken waved at the child  
"Well nice to meet you too--"  
"Do you sell crack mister?"  
That made the man had to do a double take.  
"...Do I what?"  
"Or do you sell, meth, maybe needles or something?" Who the hell has this kid been around? Before Kenny can speak, Butters hopped in.  
"He is not a druggie, Dougie! He's my friend!" The child spat.  
Dougie didn't seem too convinced.  
"I have to make sure, most adults who go to schools, but don’t have kids there are usually trying to sell drugs or trying to beat up kids for lunch money"  
"NUH UH!"  
"YEAH HUH, I learnt it in class today Butters! It's totally true!"  
Butters was about to reply but stopped. Dougie was a grade above them after all, so he couldn't exactly call his bluff. Sometimes, it sucked Dougie was in second grade while he and the others were in first.  
Since he couldn't exactly argue with the redhead, instead he pointed to another child in a yellow plaid shirt.  
"And this is my other friend!"  
After the last kid, Ken was a little nervous when he waved at the child. Was this one gonna call him kidnapper or something?  
"Hey there kiddo!" He did his best to try not to look like a creep.  
The last child, a small dirty-blonde boy, hid behind Scott and Dougie throughout most of the encounter so far. From the looks of it, he was hoping the man wouldn't acknowledge his presence.  
He just looked down at the ground without even replying to Ken's greeting.  
The taller boy moved beside him to put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder and said, "Thomasth here isth, uh... he'sth a little--"  
"sHIT!!"  
The boy yelled out all too suddenly. He covered his own mouth, seemingly taken aback by his own word, having just yelled that to an adult. Oddly enough, this didn't seem to phase the other three boys all too much. Ken, however...  
"I-I'm really sorry! I-- I didn't mean to..!"  
Just when he thought this one was gonna be a normal one. Kenny was more then offended for that be the first thing he is greeted with, especially by a kid of all people  
"Hey kid do you just go around saying that to--!?" Before he could continue, Butters once again pulled him down to whisper into his ear.  
"Thomas didn't mean that Ken! He has this thing called tour rex!"  
Ken looked at the child confused now  
"What?" Was this some kind of joke? What the heck was tour rex?  
Butters tried his best to explain.  
"It's this thing where like he blurts out words. He doesn't actually mean it!"  
Kenny still couldn't understand what Butters meant. He kept replaying the child's words in his mind before he finally put two and two together.  
"Butters, do you mean tourettes?"  
The child cocked his head to the side.  
"Oh is that how you say it?"  
Now it made more sense! Wow… but now it meant Ken got mad at someone with tourettes. Even worst, a child. Man, this whole meet-and-greet was not working out in his favor.  
Nevertheless he wasn't gonna go down like this. He softly smiled at the scared child.  
"It's nice to meet you Thomas. Uhhh...Sorry about that little...snap earlier. It's just...well you know..and then...but like..." Man how was he supposed to explain this?  
"Look, I'm not a bad guy" He finally said, putting his hands up defensively.  
It hasn't even been 5 minutes and he already messed up with 2 out of 3 of the kids. He really didn't want Butters friends thinking he was the town's jackass or anything.  
"No, it's-- It's not your fault, mister. I'm used to people getting mad..." Thomas looked back down at the ground, rubbing a hand on his own arm in embarrassment. "Um, nice to-- shit, SHIT!" He kept his mouth covered in an attempt to muffle himself, but per the usual, he was still getting stares from kids as they walked by. "... meet you..." The last part was almost too inaudible for anyone to hear.  
Aw man, Now Kenny felt worst! It didn't help other kids were beginning to look, god how he wish he could vanish.  
It seems like the only two who were willing to try and break the ice cold tension between Ken and the other two boys right now were Butters and Scott.  
Scott tried to pipe up and lighten the mood first. "Buttersth told usth a lot about you, misthter Kenny! Isth it true that you let Buttersth eat chocolate cthereal and watch cartoonsth asth much asth he wantsth?"  
Kenny smiled a little, appreciative of his attempt at easing the tension with small talk.  
"Well, it was only two times." He said a little smugly. Might as well try to impress the kids.  
Dougie didn't seem to be buying it though.  
"No way! Butters parents doesn't let him watch tv and eat! Even when we come over!"  
Butters stuck his tongue at the redhead.  
"Well Kenny is like super cool Dougie! He's so cool, he was fighting this one guy and I got to watch!"  
Kenny looked at the smaller blonde nervously.  
"Ummm...maybe we shouldn't speak of that Butters." He didn't need one of these kids going back and telling an adult how Butters almost got stabbed during one of Mysterion's heroing nights.  
But Butters didn't listen as he continued his story.  
"You should've been there! The guy was all crazy and-and Kenny wasn't even scared! But then the guy pulled out a knife and was all like "I'm gonna cut you!" But Kenny was still like "I'm not afraid! I'm gonna beat you up!"  
Butters began to punch at the air.  
"It was so awesome! Ken's like a real superhero!"  
You'd think that would've impressed Dougie, but he just scoffed.  
"Butters, my friend. We all know there's only ONE true hero in South park"  
He said, looking back at the other two for backup.  
"The mystery underwear person, the purple vigilante, the guy people love, despise, and dream about meeting!"  
"Uugh, here we go. Dougie, he'sth Mystherion, not Sthailor Moon. You don't gotta sthay that every time we talk about him!"  
Scott was nice for the most part, but apparently he takes no shits when it comes to his ginger companion.  
"But, yeah! It would be pretty cool to meet Mystherion! If I ever met him, I'd ask if he could teach me sthome of histh cool superhero movesth! That way, when thosthe sthixth gradersth try to pick on me in the bathroom, they won't know what hit 'em!" The brunette boy crossed his arms together triumphantly.  
Thomas added nothing to the conversation, but he wasn't looking at the floor anymore, meaning the current topic was intriguing enough for him to pay closer attention.  
Dougie gave Scott a side glance.  
"Excuse me for finding enjoyment in the fact that South park of all town's have their very own superhero!" He stuck his tongue out at the brunette before going back to his little fantasy world.  
"It's not everyday a town can get their own batman! You can't say it isn't cool Scott"  
Kenny raised an eyebrow. Hm, so these kids were fans? Even Thomas looked interested in the conversation! Maybe he should've let Mysterion talk to the kids. Surely Butters would've liked that--  
"Mysterion isn't all that!"  
It was like a slap to the face as those words came from Butters voice.  
Dougie made a "psssh" sound at the smaller blonde  
"We get it Butters, you aren't cool enough to understand why Mysterion is awesome!"  
Butters stomped his foot.  
"That's not true! It's just..." He crossed his arms.  
"Well, I never seen him! You always hear about how he does cool things and beats up bad people, but has anyone ever seen him?"  
Kenny's eyes darted around.  
"Well I mean...I'm sure ONE of you got to see him." The man looked down at Butters. Did he make it too obvious? Apparently not, because Butters just shook his head.  
"Well I never got to see him! Not one time! And I doubt any of you fellers did too."  
Dougie held his hand up.  
"Well actually I think I might have saw him behind Applebee's once."  
"NO YOU DIDN'T!" Butters was quick to call his friend out.  
"I SAID MAYBE!" Dougie countered.  
"I assume it was him cause the guy was all mysterious and stuff! And plus, who doesn't like Applebee's?"  
Leo could only huff. It was hard to argue with Dougie and his points sometimes.  
"Well, obviousthly of coursthe none of usth have ever seen him, Buttersth!" Scott chimes in once more, his tone sounding as-a-matter-of-factly. Looks like Dougie was rubbing off on him. "He doesthn't justht come out during daytime! He comesth out at night! Y'know, when bad guysth come out and we're all sthleeping! He'sth like Sthanta Clausth, but insthtead of giving you coal when you're naughty, he just comesth in, beatsth you up and putsth you in jail!" He was making swift punching and throwing motions with his arms as he talked.  
Seeing the kids bicker kinda made Kenny want to get in on the conversation. Oh, how this reminded him of when he, Kyle, and the rest of the gang would get into silly arguments about their favorite superheroes.  
"Well, I guess Santa Claus is a good way to put it." He chimed in, hoping that was what Scott was trying to say. Honestly, It was a rather silly comparison, but man it was pretty cute!  
That didn't seem to spark any kind of impression from Butters though.  
"Still...Even Batman comes out to the public here and there sometimes! And besides, does Mysterion have a cool secret cave? Or a really cool car? Or a butler?"  
Dougie had to think about it for a minute  
"Well...He could! You never know!"  
‘I, for one, can assure you he doesn't have any of those…’ Kenny thought to himself. It was funny to think these kids thought Mysterion was rich and had everything handed out to him. How bummed would they be to hear he lived in a shitty apartment and spent most of his nights eating ramen in his underwear.  
It was obvious Scott wasn't gonna be as much help. Butters looked over to Thomas, who's been rather quiet during all of this.  
"Well, what do you think about Mysterion, Thomas?" It was only fair to get everyone's opinion on the situation.  
Clearly, Thomas doesn't do so well when the spotlight is suddenly on him in times like this, because it takes him a moment or so to finally answer his friend's question.  
"Well, um... he's, uh... pretty cool, I guess, yeah... Or maybe not... I'm kind of stuck in the middle.."  
The blonde boy was easily influential, so he was seeing all of his friend's sides with ease, but he wasn't sure what to make of his own. Even if he had his own valid opinion, he doesn't see it adding much to the conversation anyway.  
How nervous this kid was when everyone looked at him made Ken wanna give the little guy a hug. He was all too familiar with this. He was the quiet one in his little gang, never really getting to express his opinion, so when he finally was able to talk, he never could exactly say what he wanted to or how he could add in on the conversation.  
"That's totally fine Thomas, not everyone is very familiar with the hero, right boys?" Ken tried to back the child up.  
"Well actually-- Ow!" Before Dougie could finish his sentence, Butters bumped his arm and interrupted him.  
"Right." He simply said. Maybe he could tell Thomas was uncomfortable? It was hard to figure out what was going on in that kid’s head.  
"There's more important things to discuss at the moment, like what we're gonna do when we get go to the park later!" His excitement grew quickly. "Ooo, we should be bring some toys! I got this new firetruck and--"  
"What's the point?" Dougie said, rather upset. "You know THEY'LL just take it away."  
Kenny was beginning to grow concerned. "’They?’ Who's ‘they?’"  
Soon, Butters enthusiasm disappeared as he looked at the ground.  
"Oh yeah...I forgot about the sixth graders..."  
"The Sixth graders?" Mysterion was already began to emerge within Ken as his eyebrows furrowed.  
Even Scott’s passion was starting to drain at each passing mention of the sixth graders. He put his hands in his pockets and said, “Yeah, sthixth gradersth are the worstht. They always pick on younger kidsth like usth! Esthpecially usth…”  
"They do huh?" The dirty haired blonde narrowed his eyes.  
“Yeah... And that’sth not all. They alstho take our stuff sthometimesth when the adultsth aren’t looking! One time, they took my insthulin needlesth becausthe they thought they were drugsth or sthomething!” Considering they took the whole diabetic kit as well, they almost had to take Scott to the hospital that day.  
Butters sadly nodded his head.  
"Yeah! One time they pushed me in the mud and-and my parents got mad cause they thought I was hopping in puddles again!"  
Even Dougie had a little sad story to tell.  
"They took my last pair of glasses. I wasn't able to see and I ended up in the woods! It took about an hour for my mom to find me"  
Butters nodded, "basically...sixth graders are the worst! They're big stinky meanies! And...And they love to pick on us the most..." Honestly, he and his friends were a target for being picked on. But the sixth graders were the worst offenders.  
Almost everyone in Butters’ friend group were prone to ridicule by kids and sixth graders alike, and that was the sad reality of it all. But even then, maybe that was part of what brought them together in the first place.  
The more Ken heard what happened, the more it pissed him off. He balled his fists.  
"Kids, if those sixth graders mess with you today, I can safely assure there's a chance you'll be seeing Mysterion." He had already made a mental note to stop by and get his costume.  
Thomas looked up at Kenny and raised an eyebrow at him.  
“How do you know that, a-ASSHOLE!! Sorry.. H-he’s never come before. I don’t see why he would come now...”  
"Believe me kiddo, I have a good feeling he'll come." Ken said with a soft smile.

It seemed Dougie was about to respond to that before Kenny clasped his hands together.  
"Alright, you boys need to get home. You gotta get ready to have a good day at the park!"  
Ken soon picked up Butters, who giggled after immediately being lifted.  
"We gotta get you home especially little fella, I can't have you home late on my first day!"  
Just as Ken was about to turn around and leave, Dougie ran in front of the two, determined to get answers immediately. "Wait, Butters isn't riding the bus?"  
Butters nodded his head happily.  
"Yeah! Kenny's taking me home so I don't have to see the big mean bus driver!"  
The redhead began to pout.  
"Well, I don't want to see the mean bus driver either! I want Kenny to take me home too!"  
The man quickly stopped the boy there.  
"Hang on there, partner. Besides the fact I don't know where you live, I don't think your mom would be too glad you walked home with a stranger." Heck, it was risky enough dropping Butters off! Besides, Ken wasn't some kind of...kid deliveryman!  
Scott looked disappointed that Kenny said no to Dougie’s offer, since if he said yes, there might have been the chance he could tag along too, but didn’t argue further.  
“Gosh, Buttersth, you’re stho lucky! I wish I had an adult friend who would walk me home so I don’t have to take the busth anymore.”  
As they spoke, Thomas was looking up at the clock in worry. “Um, guys? We should go before we’re too late and the asshole, COCKSUCKER b-bus driver leaves without us...”  
Looking up at the clock too, Scott nodded.  
“Yeah, let’sth go, you guysth. Bye, Buttersth! Bye, misthter Ken!” He waved and ran off to catch the bus first. Thomas have a slight wave to the two of them before following Scott out in suit.  
Dougie was about to argue again, but stopped himself. The buses were already starting their engines. His mom would not be happy to find out he came home late cause he simply missed it.  
In defeat, he kicked at the pavement.  
"Yeah...see you later Butters" he hurried up to catch up with the others.  
Ken almost felt bad for not agreeing to take the kids home. Just how bad was this bus driver? The heck is up with these kids and having to meet the absolute worst people!?  
"Maybe next time okay?" The man finally called. Heck, why not? Maybe they could go for ice cream or something, that'll definitely help lighten the mood with him and these kids! Speaking of kids, Now that the rest were gone, time to get one more home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, omce again my friend was super helpful in the making of the chapter and will still be for future chapters! For now, how about giving then a follow at www.my-name-is-not-keehal.tumblr.com they're art is super cute, you'll love it!


	7. Playtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to make sure those kids have a good day at the park!

The ride to Butters house was rather enjoyable this time. Butters talked about pretty much everything they did. They drew, did some math and even learnt some new words! Yep, no kind of trouble all day which was relieving to Kenny. Though, that just meant the day at the park could end up badly.   
Well, it would if a certain hero wasn't planning on being there. Speaking of that.  
“Hey Butters, what time were y'all planning on heading out to the park?”   
Butters took a minute to think about the question.  
“Ummm...I think about five. Cause Dougie’s mom is taking us, and she always make him do his homework before he does anything else.”   
Hm, at least she sounded like a responsible adult.   
Surely wasn't trying to get involved with two potential shitty parents.   
“Why do you ask, Ken?” Butters looked at the man confused.   
“Oh well you know...Just wanna make sure you get to enjoy the park for a while you know?”   
The child sighed. “Yeah...Not unless those big bullies come and ruin it! I swear, they're so mean for no reason! But one day they're gonna get it!”  
“Trust me, they'll get what's coming to them” Ken thought, smiling rather devilishly.   
Just then, they were on Butters’ street.   
“Okay big fella, think you brave enough to walk home?”   
Kenny didn't wanna risk one of the child's parents finally being home this time. Besides, it was still day and he could see him from here. He'd be ready if anyone tried some shit.  
Butters nodded, grabbing his backpack.  
“I'm not afraid! I'll mess up anyone who messes with me!” He puffed out his little chest, which caused Ken to laugh.  
“You show em tough guy!”   
With that The little blonde waved goodbye before hopping out the truck, making his way to his house.   
Kenny watched the child walk down the sidewalk until l he finally disappeared out of sight. Now that that was out of the way, it was time to go home and get ready himself.   
Looking both ways, the truck made a right turn and was now heading down the road. 

Alright, not much to do. Not like he had to get his costume from the dry cleaners or anything. Just gotta be ready when it's 5. Once again, the apartment was rather quiet…  
“Guess I'll just watch some TV…”   
Ken went to turn on the television. Immediately as he pressed the power button, Looney Tunes began to play. He could almost hear Butters giggling, happily cheering Bugs bunny on to save the day. 

It felt like forever, but 5 o clock finally came. Kenny was like an impatient child, as he scurried to his feet, grabbing his costume before heading out the door. If he went straight down there, he'd surely be able to beat Butters and the others there and find a good place to hide. Hopefully Dougie's mom was still having to pick up the other other kids.   
Hopping into his truck, Ken backed out the driveway quickly, making the truck purr as he took off, maybe not exactly waiting at the stop sign. Not like anyone was coming anyways. 

Starch Pond was fortunately not so far from him, It only took Kenny 10 minutes to park and make his way to the nearest bathroom to change. After a quick peek to make sure Butters wasn't there, it was officially time for the hero to arise once again. 

Soon a red station wagon appeared, and four recognizable faces hopped out of it. It was show time.  
The hero wasn't too used to being out in the day. Doing his absolute best to remain undetected, hiding in the stalls, behind trash cans, under benches. He was determined to remained hidden! However, it made it hard to find the boys. So when he saw the 4 by the slide, it was quite fortunate there was a giant oak tree near them. Making a mad dash for the tree, the hero climbed to the top, peeking from behind the leaves at the kids. Now, all he could do was wait for something to happen.

Butters was quite pumped to be there, he giggled uncontrollably as he grinned like a lunatic.  
Thomas and Scott seemed to be having a conversation on the side as Butters and Dougie ran through and around the slide.  
"Hey, Scott..? I was just wondering-- ASSFARTS!! wh-why did you bring that with you?" The blonde pointed to the toy that Scott held in his hand. A Red Racer action figure.  
Scott rubbed the back of his head. "I know we sthaid we weren't gonna take toysth and sthtuff, but couldn't help mysthelf! I justht got thisth at the toy sthtore yesthterday and had to show you guysth!" He replied enthusiastically and held the toy up in Thomas' face. "Look! Thisth was the lastht of thisth toy they had in sthtock for awhile! And I wasth lucky enough to get it before they ran out! Isthn't that stho cool?!"  
"SHIT, I-I mean, it is pretty cool, but aren't you afraid that.. y'know... they're gonna take it..?"  
"Yeah, but don't worry! I'm gonna hide it real good in my coat pocket where they aren't gonna sthee it or nothin'!" He said, and then promptly shoved the toy in his coat pocket there after. "Sthee?"  
It was still a little obvious from the bump in his coat that Scott had something in his pocket, but Thomas didn't want to argue that point and put Scott into a panic once he figures out he may not have any other way to hide the toy. So he just let this one slide.  
"Okay, if you're sure..."

Butters couldn't help but overhear Scott and Thomas chattering. So when he heard something about a new toy, he quickly ran over , unable to control his excitement any longer. The child pulled out a big shiny red fire truck.  
"SCOTTIE I GOT A NEW TOY TOO!" He blurted out.   
"Isn't it cool? My mom let me get it when we went to mall a few days ago!"   
“Oh! Buttersth that’sth stho cool!!”  
Mysterion couldn't help but scoff hearing this.  
"Was this before, or after he ended up at my place two times?" He whispered sarcastically. But it honestly made him curious. Could Butters mom just have bought that just bribe the child?  
He didn't get to think of it much cause whoops, the kids were talking more.  
Dougie looked a little annoyed at Butters’ toy.  
"Geez Butters, why don't you just hold up a sign that says we have free stuff for the taken?"   
Butters face immediately dropped at that.  
"B-But..."  
"You know they'll take it! They're gonna find it, those kids are like bloodhounds when it comes to sniffing out toys! Especially if they're new!"  
Scott piped up with, “Hey, if you don’t want the sixth gradersth to come and take it, I could hide it in my other pocket for you too! It might fit, I think... If not, I’ll justht sthtuff the whole toy insthide my whole coat if we sthee them coming!” Scott said and unzipped his coat and opened it from both sides, showing off his yellow dinosaur shirt. “No sixth gradersth are gonna ruin our fun on my watch!”  
"Why thank you Scottie!" Butters said, while also sticking his tongue out Dougie, the redhead was about retort before he noticed Thomas seeming to be out of it.  
Thomas looked like he had something on his mind.  
"Yo Thomas! You alright dude?"   
Dougie always thought the kid was a little weird. He was so quiet, when he wasn't yelling out random obscenities that is. It was always hard to tell what Thomas was feeling or thinking about. But...However, maybe it was a good idea to stay on his good side. Who knows, he might come in handy one day!  
“Huh? Uh yeah, I’m fine. I was just.. thinking about what Butters’ friend was saying earlier. After we told him about the sixth graders... COCK!!” He almost wished someone else in their group would have asked how he was instead, since Dougie was considered the most judgemental kid amongst their friend circle, and Thomas didn’t want him to think that he was being stupid for taking any of mister Kenny’s words into consideration.  
“If the sixth graders do try to pick on us again, do you really think Mysterion is gonna show up..?”

Dougie normally would have made a comment about how of course he's not coming! He only works at night!   
But Kenny's word replayed in his minds he stopped himself.  
"I-I don't know...I mean...that Kenny guy really made it feel like Mysterion would come...Kind of think of it, he was kinda into it when we talked about him too! You-You don't think..."  
Mysterion sat up straight, oh no...was this kid actually that smart to put two and two together!? Was he really gonna find out that quickly!?  
"...You think maybe Kenny is Mysterion's butler?"  
The vigilante flopped back down onto the branch as relief washed over him.  
"Heck, Me? A butler? Psssh."   
His apartment alone showed Ken was not for those gentleman bullshit jobs. How funny would it be, he'd have to fire himself for not keeping his own base straight.  
“Wooow! If that’sth true, then would make misthter Kenny the Alfred to Mysthterion’sth Batman! And if misthter Kenny isth friendsth with Mysthterion, and Buttersth isth friendsth with misthter Kenny, and we’re friendsth with Buttersth, would that mean we have a connection with Mysthterion???” The brunette went on about his tangent, probably unaware of how ridiculous he was sounded after jumping the gun so fast. If Ken hadn’t known this kid was diabetic, he might have assumed the kid had too much sugar to eat before coming with how rowdy he seemed to be.  
Dougie was more then happy to hop on board this band wagon.  
"DOES THAT MEAN WE COULD SPEND THE NIGHT AT MYSTERION'S ONE DAY?!" To think, he could play hide and seek in the Mysterion lair one day, and the next day be able to break a sixth grader's thumb!   
The kid with glasses looked at Butters slyly.  
"Heeeyyy Butters, so ummmm...I know what I said earlier but...Mr Kenny is like super cool and stuff! So do ya think maybe..."  
Butters huffed as he crossed his arms.  
"You guys are acting silly! Maybe Kenny just knows Mystery guy cause he...I don't know, maybe the super hero helped him one time! Or like...maybe he found out cause he works at a newspaper and he saw the hero! Either way, even if he was Mysterion friend, I doubt he would let us know. Especially since DOUGIE would just go back and tell everyone that we know!"  
The nerdy kid just shrugged.  
"Hey, why not brag to those buttheads that we know a real life superhero?" He simply said.  
Thomas just sighed, expecting almost this exact reaction to occur. He says one thing and it blows the whole conversation out of proportion.   
Either way, whether Kenny actually did have a connection to Mysterion or not, Thomas had silent hopes that maybe someone would come to their aid this time if disaster struck.  
And that was when he heard it. The sound of rolling bikes from afar.  
As Butters, Dougie, and Scott all kept discussing about Mysterion amongst themselves, Thomas spun his head around to see bikes rolling up the street, stopping right at the entrance to the park. The group of much taller kids parked their bikes in their usual spots and made their way towards the main park area.   
”SHIT, g-guys. Guys. Its them. They’re here.”  
With how typically quiet the blonde was compared to the rest of them, he wasn’t heard immediately. “But Dougie, if we went around telling everyone we knew Mysthterion, then wouldn’t that get usth into trouble eventually??”  
The dirty blonde hair child was ignored as Dougie's full attention was now focus on Scott.  
"Well not if he doesn't know I was saying right? I mean--"  
"He'll find out! Dougie is a total blabbermouth!" Butters chimed in, glancing at the redhead, wbo was now also looking at him disgusted.   
"Now listen here Butters I--" Dougie could hear the sounds of snickering, he looked up to see three bigger figures walking towards them.  
"SIXTH GRADERS!" He blurted out as he began to tremble. Dammit, didn't any of these guys know they were coming!?  
"Oh hamburgers!" Butters was completely discombobulated as he now didn't know what to do with the truck in his hands. 

Hearing the child's cry, Mysterion was now in full alert, watching the older boys carefully as they seem to be making their way to the children. He was waiting for them to pull something as they all looked like vultures looking for their next prey.  
"This ends today." The hero thought, his eyes glaring daggers at the sixth graders.  
Almost on instinct, Scott grabbed Butters’ toy firetruck and stuffed it in his jacket before the three older kids could catch sight of it. He was standing behind Thomas, so they wouldn’t notice what he’s doing immediately.  
The apparent ringleader of the three kids was the first to speak up. ”Well, well, well. Can’t say I’m surprised to find a bunch of first-grade losers hanging around in my park.”  
”Y-your park..?” Thomas questioned in concern.  
The leader leaned down and got in Thomas’ face, prompting him to back up and bump into Scott. “Yeah, you heard me. Mine.”  
The other blonde child could only sigh as he looked down to the ground.  
"Hi Clyde..." Butters muttered, refusing to look the older kid in the eye.   
Man, just when he thought they could have a good time, the biggest bully of them all appears! It didn't help his little posse was right behind him, cheering him on as he bullied Thomas.  
Even though Scott was scared that he was the one secretly hiding the toys (meaning he was the most as risk), he tried to put on a brave face for the sake of his other 3 friends.  
After all, that’s what Mysterion would do!  
Even though Scott was scared that he was the one secretly hiding the toys (meaning he was the most as risk), he tried to put on a brave face for the sake of his other 3 friends.  
After all, that’s what Mysterion would do!  
“Sthorry, we didn’t bring any toysth to play with thisth time! Sth-stho you can’t— you can’t have any...”  
“Oh really?” Clyde got closer too, eyeing up each of the much younger boys suspiciously as he did. “And how do we know you little bed-wetters aren’t just lying?”  
It was like a little boost of confidence went into Dougie as he stepped up to the brunette.  
"And how do you know we aren't? Do you see any toys? Because I sure don't! So why don't you sixth lameos leave us alone?!"   
The taller kid in purple made a step towards Dougie, which made the redhead lose any confidence he had left immediately vanish as he retreated behind Scott.  
Seeing the child flee, made the sixth grader sneered.  
"Looks like we got ourselves a tough guy here."  
"More like a little smartass."  
The dirty-looking brunette snarled.  
"Maybe we should teach ‘em a lesson again."  
Butters didn't like the sound of that as he had now also ran behind Scott.   
And Thomas was already behind Scott the second the leader of the older trio got up in his face the way he did earlier. There was no way he of all people could stand a chance against sixth graders! If he even tried to stand up to them, he might as well have a death wish! He wasn’t sure how the rest of them were able to do it!  
And now with the rest of Butters’ gang flocking behind the tallest member for protection, it meant that the bump in Scott’s jacket was in plain sight, and was less subtle to the eye of the taller kids in front of them now.  
Being the tallest is both a blessing and a curse. But in this case, it was mostly a curse.  
"You-You better leave us alone! Cause...Cause a superhero will be here soon! And he'll mess you up if he finds you're messing with us again!" Butters claimed from behind Scott.  
So far there was no sign of Mysterion showing up, but at this point, Butters was willing to put his faith in the hero if it meant him and his friends could get out this unharmed.  
“Pffft, what are you going on about, kid? ‘Superhero?’ What, did you call your mommy in advance before we got here? Is she gonna come ‘save’ you?” Clyde teased. The closer they got, the more evident the bumps in the taller kid’s coat became. “Ha! I knew you were a bunch of filthy liars! What’s in the coat?!”  
“N-none of your busthinessth! Just leave usth alone!!” Scott yelled, trying to sound more tough than terrified.   
That was apparently the wrong answer. “Fine, then we’ll just take them ourselves. Jason, Dogpoo? Whaddya say, boys?” He turned to the two other kids by his side.  
The other two laughed evilly, already walking closer to the kids.  
"After we get our new toy, how about we punish them for lying? I say a good ol swirly oughta do it." The purple jacket child said.  
"Or how about we make them some nice mudpies to chow down on?" The light haired child responded. "Oh look, there's some perfect ingredients over there!" He gestured over to little bin where dog walkers could dispose of waste.  
"Or better yet, a Texas wedgie!"   
Hearing that, Dougie completely lost it.  
"NO, NOT THE TEXAS WEDGIE! PLEASE!" He began to bawl. It took him 2 weeks to be able to sit down after the last one.   
Now it was Butters’ turn to panic, his eyes darting around for any kind of help. Dougie's mom was too focused on her phone, there were no other adults around, Dougie was crying... Where was this hero when you needed him!?   
With nothing else to do, the child began to cry as well.  
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP US!" He cried out, as he covered his eyes. His toy was gonna get taken, and who knows what these guys were going to do to them? Was this really the end!?

"Showtime."  
Soon, a tall dark figure flew down from the oak tree. It was a man in purple. He looked at the three boys with pure anger in his eyes.  
"How about you three get lost while you still can?" The man said in a gruff voice.  
Clyde backed up and almost fell on his ass. Now he definitely didn’t see that coming! “Wh-what the—?!? H-hey, who the hell are you?!”  
Scott had his eyes shut to brace himself for the inevitable mud pies and wedgies to come until he heard a deep, unfamiliar voice speak in front of him. Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but a purple cape and hood that definitely didn’t belong to any sixth grader he’s seen.  
"Huh?" How come they weren't being pummeled? Butters looked up to see there a taller figure in front of them now, the boy's eyes brighten up. Was...Was this really him!?  
Mysterion didn't say anything as he lifted the sixth grade boy up by the collar of his jacket. He brought him real close.  
Seeing their leader get snatched up, the two other boys began to back up slowly as the man talked.  
"Who I am isn’t important. All you need to know is that I'm the guy that will haunt your worst nightmares if I find you messing with these children again."  
“H-hey! Put me down! Don’t hurt me!” Clyde made a pathetic attempt to make Mysterion let go of his grip, but to no avail, obviously.  
Watching the child struggle in his grip, Mysterion looked over to the two boys.  
"Why don't ask your friends to help you?"   
He held the boy up so he could face his little group who were already halfway to their bikes by now.   
Once the two saw that he acknowledged them, the dirty-looking child looked at the ground. "Hey ummm… sooo… me and Jason are gonna wait at my house until you're like...done here, Clyde."  
The purple jacket kid spoke up next. "Y-Yeah! You seem to have everything taken care of here! You-You don't need us!"   
It was then Dougie had opened his eyes and saw what was happening. He wasn't afraid to call the two out on their bull, running from behind the stranger's cape. "YEAH YOU BETTER RUN! OTHERWISE HE'S GONNA BEAT YOUR FACE INTO A PULP TOO!"   
Normally the redhead would have regretted saying such things, but instead, the two scurried away like to dogs with their tails between their legs.   
"Please don't hurt me, sir!" Jason called before they took off.  
”YOU GUYS!! Come back!!” Clyde hopelessly yelled as the only two people who could have helped him out of this mess were gone in a flash.   
Now, all the brunette could do was face the much taller man, who was still holding him up by the collar of his shirt. At this point, not much else to do but admit defeat.  
“Please don’t hurt me, please! I’ll do anything! Just don’t punch me in the face! Or anywhere else! But mostly the face!!” He cried.  
In reality, the man had no intentions of hurting the child. Even if he was a hero, that didn't excuse making a child into his own little punching bag. But, that didn't mean he wasn't gonna let the other little ones have some fun.  
He held the bigger boy up high like a pinata.  
"Alright boys, what do you say we should do to him?"  
Dougie already had his little idea of torture in mind.  
"LET'S GIVE HIM A WEDGIE! AND-AND Ummm...MAKE HIM EAT MUD! No...A MATHBOOK!"   
He looked at the brunette evilly.  
"Give him the Geometry book, they're the biggest ones!"  
”Not Geometry, oh god I can’t eat that whole thing!!” He cried.  
Scott had nothing in mind immediately, but he did ponder the thought. “Hmmm… OH, I got it! Let’sth take histh phone and make him postht mean sthtuff about good-willed celebritiesth on Twitter!!”   
”Nooo, I just got to 150 followers! You’ll ruin my image for life!!” At this point, Clyde was kicking and squirming again, tears and snot starting to streak down his face.  
The man had to tighten his grip on the boy, just so he wouldn't slip out of his jacket. There was still two others that haven't spoken.  
He glanced behind his shoulder. "And what do you two think?"   
It was only fair to see what they would say. 

Butters just watched as Clyde was desperate at this point. The boy was in tears!   
"Maybe...Maybe we should… let ‘em go?"   
That was the last thing Dougie expected to hear from him. He quickly ran up to Butters.  
"ARE YOU CRAZY!? THIS IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST BULLIES EVER! THE ONE WHO'S MADE YOU RUN HOME CRYING MORE THAN ONCE, AND YOU JUST WANNA LET HIM GO!?"   
Butters took in a deep breath. Dougie was right. Clyde was like their greatest nemesis! The one who had taken countless toys since the day they met. And yet...seeing him so defeated...  
"I-I don't know..." This was his chance to get revenge! But it didn't feel right.  
Meanwhile, Dougie just shook his head, disappointed in the blonde. He then looked over at Thomas.  
"Well surely Thomas will have a BETTER idea!" Surely, the kid had a little vengeance in him!  
....  
“I... I think Butters is right.” Thomas finally replied. ”ASS—!! A-as much as it would be nice for the sixth graders to finally see what it’s like being bullied, if we do to them what they did to us, I think— SHIT w-we’d just be the bullies...”   
It seemed that Scott’s vengeful state started to die down once he heard Butters and Thomas’ point of view. “Yeah... you’re right, I guessth. But I think an apology would be would sufficthe he at leastht!”  
Dougie was horrified to see his friends actually agree.  
"What!? But-But you guys--"   
"It might feel nice to get vengeance. But it takes a stronger person to forgive." The hero chimed in.   
Hearing that, Dougie just pouted, crossing his arms. "Fine, whatever I guess..."   
Butters gave him a pat on the back.  
"Way to be a stronger person, Dougie!"   
The nerdy kid just brushed it off. "Yeah yeah, but he still has to apologize! And-And he has to say that he promises that him and his friends won't bully us anymore!" The child thought for a second. "And also, he has to say he’s a big poopyhead."   
Butters just rolled his eyes, but didn't object to that last sentence. "Yeah, okay. He has to say that too." It was the least they can make him do right?  
"I think that works just fine." The hero said, turning the crying boy in his hand to face the four.  
"Well go on, you heard them" The man tapped his foot, waiting for the child to talk.  
“Hhhh okay, alright, fine...” The dangling kid whined, complying before they change their minds and go through with their previous plans. “I’m sorry, we won’t do it again, and....” He then muttered the last part quieter.  
"What was that? I couldn't hear you!"   
Dougie smiled smugly, but then Butters cut in.  
"We accept your apology Clyde. Right boys?"  
Dougie shrugged. "I guess I'm cool with it if everyone else is." As much as he wished he got to actually hear the poopyhead part, seeing Clyde almost wet himself was good enough for the child in glasses.  
Scott put his hands on his hips proudly and nodded. “I’d sthay the right amount of justicthe hasth been stherved here today!” He said triumphantly, to which Thomas nodded in agreement to.  
“Oh, and actually, one more thing! We want all the toysth you took from usth back by tomorrow!”  
Clyde groaned, but complied once again. “Alright, fine!” He sniffled. “You can have them back! Now just put me down, I wanna go home!”  
"We want them all tomorrow!" Butters said with a little more oomph in his voice.  
"Yeah! Or else you gonna get it!" Dougie gestured to the mask stranger.

It seems the kids had all had their fun. Mysterion finally put the child down carefully.  
"Alright, you're free to go." He put his hands by his sides to show he had no intentions of grabbing Clyde again.   
The second Clyde felt his feet his the ground, he made a b-line towards the only bike left on the ground near the entrance and hastily took off.   
Once he was out of their line of sight, the kids all turned toward Mysterion.  
“Oh. My. God. Am I dreaming or did the real Mysthterion actually come and sthave usth from the sixth gradersth?!? That’s wasth the coolestht thing that ever happened!!” Scott was jumping up and down from excitement. They were free. They were actually free from the sixth graders’ torment forever! They couldn’t be happier!  
With all the excitement happening, it took Dougie a minute to process what Scott had actually said. He looked up at the man that had just saved him, and then gasped.   
Mysterion wasn't sure what was going through the child's head they both were both just looking at each other. Soon, the masked hero cleared his throat.  
"Uhh hi--"  
"EEEEEEE"   
The man jumped at the sudden high pitch noise that came from such a small person.  
"Nice to meet you?"   
Dougie had already ran to Butters, shaken him violently.  
"IT'S HIM! IT'S MYSTERION! HE CAME TO SAVE US! OH MY GOD HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE! GUYS ARE YOU SEEING THIS!?" He looked at the others with a huge grin.   
“Oh my god, I think I might actually, faint, you guysth!”  
As Dougie and Scott continued to embarrass themselves at their exaggerated excitement, Thomas looked up at Mysterion apologetically.  
“They’re, uh... fans.” ’Fan’ was a better term than ‘obsessed’, which would have been Thomas’ second choice.  
“Thanks a lot for saving us. ASSHOLE!!” After he said that he covered his mouth again. Oh god, he just called Mysterion an asshole. “I‘m so sorry, th-that’s not what I meant to say! I-it’s my tourette’s, I swear! SHIT!!”  
The vigilante smirked, giving the child a pat on the head.  
"Trust me, it ain't the first time someone called me that." He looked over at his two fans squealing like girls.  
"No fainting on the playground, sir." He joked. This was the first time he was actually around to feel praised, though he always imagined his first time would be bikini babes and not two kids...  
Speaking of that, where was--  
"What the?"   
Hearing the little voice, Mysterion looked around to see the small blonde child, looking completely confused at the hero.  
"But...But..."   
Uh oh, looks like Butters was putting two and two together.

The other boys haven’t seemed to notice Butters’ confusion just yet, still more focused on what happened just moments prior.  
“That wasth the bestht! Did you sthee the looksth on their facesth when you showed up out of nowhere like that?! You were all like, ’hey get lost, leave them alone.’” Scott said in a deep voice, posing exactly as Mysterion first did. “And then the sixth gradersth got all sthcared! Man, it wasth awesthome! I almostht thought we were gonersth!”   
That reminded Scott of something. “Oh! Buttersth, here, I never gave you your toy back!” He opened up his jacket to reveal the toy fire truck still in tact, and held it out for Butters to take.  
"Thank you...Scott" Butters took the toy, but his mind was focused on the hero, who was now beginning to feel nervous.  
Was Butters happy? Mad? Disappointed?   
A bunch of questions seem to circle the child's head as he looked the man in the eyes.  
"So...You...You're Myst--"  
"Sir, can I just say it's an honor to be able to meet you in person!" Dougie pushed Butters aside, getting up into the masked hero's face.  
"As you can see, me and my friend are very impressed by your work! Is there...Is there anyway for we could...learn some techniques? Maybe like, visit your lair?"   
"Uhhh...uhhhh..."   
How was he supposed to answer to that? It didn't help Butters was looking at him as if he committed a crime!  
“Oh! Yeah!!” Scott said. “We wanna learn your movesth, Mysthterion! Just in casthe the sixth gradersth try to hurt usth again. We can justht bring them a sthweet sthlicthe of justicthe oursthelvesth!!” The kid’s lisp likely made it harder and harder for anyone to even understand what he was saying anymore.  
"Maybe...Maybe we could discuss this later kids." It was the best answer he could give at the moment.   
Butters looked at his friends as if they had completely lost it.  
"Guys, that's just K--"  
"Look, you should go play, enjoy your time at the park." Mysterion quickly covered Butters mouth, nervously laughing as he ruffled the child's hair. He then bent down to lean into the blonde kid's ear.  
"Okay Butters, I-I'll explain later--"  
All of a sudden something pounced on his shoulder causing the hero, to exhale in a panic.   
He looked over to see Dougie had sneak attacked him. Now the redheaded boy was on his back.  
"How was my sneaking Mysterion? Did I surprise you?" He asked proudly.  
"I have the best sneaking techniques!" He began to brag.  
“D-Dougie, get off him. He isn’t a jungle gym..!” Gosh, Thomas wished Dougie and Scott would get themselves together for a second. He understands that they’re excited Mysterion is real. Heck, Thomas couldn’t help but feel giddy himself that a superhero actually stood up for them! But this was just kind of embarrassing to watch.  
“C-come on guys. COCK!! M-Mysterion probably has other crime fighting stuff to do.” He said. He looked up at Mysterion and smiled for the first time since he first met Kenny. “Thanks, again.”  
Mysterion...Actually, Kenny had never seen someone so happy of him. To see these kids, the same kids that he just knew wouldn't like him, the same ones that were so nervous and suspicious of him...Now they were thanking him and wanting to hang out with him. Though, it was the hero persona and not him...but it still made them feel special!  
Too bad he didn't get to enjoy it long because soon, he was pounced on again.

Butters didn't know why Kenny was saying he was this Mysterion guy. That was just the same outfit he wore when that bad guy attacked them! But...his friends were really happy, so he was more then willing to go along with it. Which was why he soon jumped into the hero's arms.  
"Oh come on Thomas! It's not everyday you get to meet a real life superhero, let alone have one play with you! Besides, I'm sure Mysterion could stay for a little bit! Maybe he'll even tell us a really cool story when he was beating up bad guys!" He looked up at the man with those big light blue eyes.  
"Won't you please stay Mysterion?"  
"Ummm well..." The hero began before a pair of brown eyes also looked up at him pleading.  
"Pleeeeeeaaassssse?" Dougie accompanied Butters.  
Scott was hopped on this puppydog bandwagon. “Pretty pleaaaasthe??? If you’re worried about people stheeing you, we could alwaysth take you to our sthuper sthecret sthpot in the park! We alwaysth usthed it when we wanted to hide from the sixth gradersth, but they ended up coming early today.”  
Admittedly, it would look rather odd for a masked man near his 30’s to be casually playing with 1st graders when he wasn’t related to them. So it wouldn’t be the worst course of action.  
"Yeah! We promise no one will find out! Please stay, just for a little bit!" Dougie was practically on his knees now. Heck, having Mysterion of all people in their secret base would be the best thing in the world! Way better then some lame celebrity. Pssssh, Caitlyn Jenner doesn't even come close to the awesomeness of the mysterious hero!

Oh god, it was 3 against one! He was just supposed to stop the sixth graders, not have story time in a public park!  
But...he also didn't want to let them down neither...they were just starting to like him!  
"Oh.. Okay, Okay! I'll stay...but just for a little bit." Maybe one story couldn't hurt right? Tell a story, maybe show off a little moves, and then be on his way!   
"But you boys have to promise you won't say a word about this. Not a peep, got it?" He looked at them all, waiting for them to agree.  
"Are you sure we can't just say we met--OOMPH!" Dougie was rudely interrupted, when Butters elbowed him sharply in the side.  
"We promise, right guys?" He said guys but he was eyeballing Dougie, who gave him side glance.  
"Yes, I promise." He muttered. So much for that selfie to prove to the other kids.  
”SHIT, well, I guess if he’s really sure...” To be honest, Thomas definitely wouldn’t argue against the hero sticking around a little longer. He’s actually kind of excited about hanging out with a real live superhero!  
Scott hopped excitedly again. “Yesth! Okay, it’sth right over thisth way!!” He took Mysterion’s hand and started dragging the hooded man in the direction of the hideout. For his age and size, Scott sure was stronger than he looked. Mysterion almost tripped a few times trying to keep up with the kid.  
The others following behind, Dougie in particular looking as if he might explode with excitement.   
The hero tried to imagine what kind of thing this "secret place" was. At best it was behind the slide or up a tree. Or heavens forbid a giant picnic blanket!  
One could only imagine what 6 and 7 year olds would think was a totally well hiding place. 

As they walked to their base, Butters was quiet most of the time, walking a little closer to Thomas since Dougie was all over the place and he got pretty tired of being his little launching pad to bounce off of. He took this time to really focus on Thomas, who was pretty quiet himself. Not that this was a surprise.  
The first time they met the boy, they all thought he was mute for a whole 2 weeks. That was, until he yelled cock in the middle of sharing time. Everyone thought it was funnier then the time the teacher split his pants.   
So it was understandable why Thomas wasn't much for talking, but that still didn't mean Butters liked to see his friend to be unheard.  
"So Thomas, aren't you excited to have a real superhero hanging out with us?" Was Thomas even happy? He did smiled for a few seconds but is he really thrilled? Well, nowhere near as excited as Dougie and Scott of course.  
Thomas looked next to his fellow blonde friend and replied, “Of course I am! I just don’t really wanna.. overwhelm him, you know?” Dougie and Scott were already a handful as it is, Though he wasn’t going to be rude and say that when they’re right there.  
Besides, they were just excited! In all fairness, with how uneventful their lives normally are, stuff like this barely never to them. If anything, Thomas was happy this was happening to him too! But he knows how overwhelming it can be to be surrounded by curious kids filled with neverending questions;  
“What about you?” Thomas did kind of notice Butters acting... off after the last bully ran off and they were assessing what happened.  
"Oh well, ummmm..." Huh, he didn't know how to explain it himself.   
"I...I guess I am excited! But...I'm mostly confused?" Would that make sense?  
It was just confusing why Kenny was acting as if he was the infamous hero. Was he doing this to impress the others? Not that he had to, he was awesome just being Kenny! It felt wrong to just sit here and pretend he was someone else. But...Everyone was so happy! How unfair would it be for Butters to just shout out that Kenny was the famous hero they adored? And...he did help take care of Clyde! It would be wrong to rat him out.   
"I'm...I'm mostly happy that you guys are happy! That what matters to me most!" They been through so much, it was nice to see the boys being able to actually unwind and have a good day, and soon with all their stuff!

“I get it— FUCK I-I’m surprised that he actually showed up this time too... But I’m glad he did.” Thomas couldn’t help but smile. Thinking about the fact that they weren’t going to be bothered by the sixth graders for awhile really took a lot off of Thomas’ shoulders. His Tourette’s often got himself in trouble with them especially. He’ll never forget the time he had to go to the nurse’s office after accidentally calling Jason a cocksucking bastard.   
“Yeah, me too pal" Butters smiled, with a little bit of proudness in it. Ken really came through for them today!  
Maybe he could draw him something amazing to show how much he appreciated this. But for now, that can wait. 

 

Eventually, they get to the stop and Butters says, yells, “Welcome to our super awesome super secret hideout, Mysterion!"  
The supposed 'hideout' the boys were talking about looked to be an old abandoned treehouse that fell out of the tree and on the ground. This place should honestly be considered unsafe for kids to be around. Wood was sticking out everywhere, the windows looked like they broke in a fist fight, and somebody was definitely gonna get splinters!   
But that didn't stop the kids from being so proud of the beat-up house.  
"Wow this is...something." Mysterion could only look in horror at the trainwreck of a hideout. He could've sworn a piece of wood had broken off when a light breeze came by.   
"Now we won't have to worry about anybody bothering usth for awhile! And alstho, thisth way we won't get in trouble with our parentsth for talking to a sthtranger." Scott got on top of his favorite tree stump. He giggled and said, "Guysth, I'm almostht asth tall asth Mysthtyrion from up here!"  
Dougie climbed on top of Scott's stump, trying his best to balance.  
"What about me? Am I taller than him!?" The child got on his tiptoes in a desperate attempt.   
The masked man soon snapped back to reality, looking at the two to take his mind off of this pile of rubbish. "Uhhh...yeah! Wow, look at you two! One day you'll both be taller than me without a stump!" The hero was trying his best to be optimistic, but jesus it was hard when out of the corner of his eye he can see the haunted cabin they called safe.   
"Ummm...are-are you sure that thing is...sturdy?"   
Butters glance at the place. "I mean, it holds up when we go in there!" He gave a little pat, which made the wooden planks creak threateningly.   
Hearing the sound made the hero cringe, the thing he needed was today to be the day this thing decided to give out.   
"Kids, I-I don't know if this is--"  
Soon, the man was being pulled again. Though, this time by a grip was weaker than Scott's.   
Butters grunted as he pulled.  
"Come on...you-you haven't even been in! You'll be safe, I promise!"  
Scott hopped off of the stump and made his way to the old treehouse's entrance. (Though, guess it couldn't be considered a treehouse anymore, since it was on the ground now.)   
"We promisthe it'sth perfectly sthafe! We come here all the time and we don’t get hurt here THAT often!" He said.   
Just when he was about to enter, Mysterion paused when Scott mentioned that one little detail.  
"Wait wait wait, you guys hurt yourselves trying to be in here?" It probably shouldn't have been too surprising, but how injured were they talking about?  
"Well...there was that one time I got bunch of splinters on my right arm from what was left of the window." Dougie spoke up, rubbing said arm tenderly.  
"I was playing on one the wooden planks but it broke so then I fell and got scratched pretty badly." Butters chimed in.   
"O-one of the wood boards that was still on the tree-- SHIT fell off and hit me on the head one time..." Thomas added.  
"You guuuysth, I'm trying to show Mysthterion that the housthe isth good! You guysth justht get hurt easthier than I do!" The tall brunette child crossed his arms.   
The other 3 kids looked at each other and then back at Scott.   
It was Dougie that spoke up first. "Scott, I honestly would think you of all people would be scared to go in there, or anywhere honestly, you bruise pretty easily!"   
It probably sounded like the redhead was mocking the brunette but he actually did worry about Scott sometimes. Because Scott was probably the most accident-prone kid in the entire group. One time, he climbed the tree and fell off, but apparently he was too proud to admit it.  
Butters was next to agree.  
"Y-Yeah Scottie...sometimes it's like a black kitten is following ya ‘cause you have pretty bad luck." It was quite hard to keep up with how many times the brunette got hurt, minus by the hideout.  
Hearing all this was really making the hero weary of the place. If not him, these kids would get seriously hurt!  
"Look boys...is there...really no other place we could hangout at?"   
Butters thought for a minute but soon shook his head.  
"This is the only place we know. It's a good distance from the park, no one walks around here, and who would ever go into a place like this?"  
"Besides us of course." Dougie stated.   
Man this sucked! Mysterion didn't know whether to feel scared or sorry for these kids.   
They had to depend on a deathtrap for a place to hide and actually be able to play in peace. The fact that they can just get out this far so easily was bad enough, but when he thought on it, he remembered that these kids were also getting bullied. And the only adult around (not to mention being the mother of one of the kids,) was on her phone the whole time!   
Since they didn't seem to have much adult supervision, they can pretty much do anything they want and get seriously hurt in the process.  
Mysterion finally let out an exhale. As much as he'd rather put police tape around this place, he was also getting a little anxious being out in the open like this.  
"Okay we'll go in...but I don't want you kids sitting or touching anything in this place.” It was the best he could do at this point.   
Scott grinned at Kenny’s compliance, ignoring Dougie and Butters’ previous remarks on his bad luck. He made his way in first. The rest followed after.   
The house looked surprisingly less dangerous on the inside than it did outside, save for some boards sticking out and a hole in the roof. It was a miracle considering the house apparently landed on its side when it fell.   
“Alright guysth, it’sth my turn on the comfy seat!” It seemed that Scott already completely forgot Mysterion’s instructions to not sit on anything, because he immediately sat down on an old seat cushion that was left in the house. He probably thought it wouldn’t be considered dangerous anyway.   
"Scott!" The vigilante immediately blurted out. Man, he heard kids had the memory of a goldfish, but he didn't think it was true!  
Scott promptly almost jumped five feet in the air when Mysterion called him out. “It’sth okay, we all sthat here plenty of timesth and didn’t get hurt!”  
The hero could only shake his head. He could see the others were wanting to sit down as well so he had to act fast.  
Before anyone else tried to find something, he unclipped his cape. "This will have to do." he sighed as he tried to find the clearest spot on the floor. Despite the floor looking pretty clear, he wasn't taking any chances of one of the kids sitting on a hidden nail or something.   
Once he found a place and patted the ground to make sure nothing was there, he laid out the cape.  
"Alright boys, sit on this." He gestured to the cape.  
Scott looked at the cape for a second and then back at the seat. Regardless of his arguement, he did as he was told and sat on the cape so the hero wouldn’t get mad at him again.   
Dougie grabbed ahold of Thomas's arm as he began to bounce.  
"We get to sit on the cape!" He softly squealed, at an poor attempt to conceal his excitement.  
Thomas kind of playfully rolled his eyes at Dougie’s fanboy enthusiasm, and sat down on the cape with Butters. It was a little worn out, but it was also kind of soft.   
Dougie plopped down on the cape last. This was officially the best day ever! Not only was he sitting on Mysterion's cape, but the hero was going to tell them an amazing story of kicking crime's ass!  
Alright, it seemed everyone was settled in, time for hero to find somewhere to sit. Nothing much he could do though. He didn't trust that chair Scott was sitting in, despite the child’s claim that they sat on it multiple of times.  
‘It seems safe now, but that doesn't mean it can be trusted.’ He thought to himself.  
Call him paranoid but the hero was quite experienced with these kinds of things. They could sit on that chair and a giant piece of wood could fall on one of them, or maybe they could be attacked by an animal who decided to make a nest in there.  
Finally, the vigilante had made a spot for himself on the floor. He was more then willing to take a splinter for the kids.  
"Alright, now what do you wanna hear about first?" He crossed his legs as he awaited for a response.  
"Oh! Tell us one of the best battles you ever had!" Dougie spoke up first.  
Scott vigorously nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, yeah! Tell usth about sthome of your bad guy sthtoriesth, Mysthterion! Or maybe sthome sthtoriesth about encountersth you’ve had with your worstht enemy or sthomething!” Not that he was sure if Mysterion actually had a worst enemy at all, but superheroes in the comics almost always had an arch nemesis of some kind! So maybe Mysterion has a Joker to his Batman!   
"My worst enemy?" Oh man, these kids expectations were high! To think he was just gonna tell them about some dumbass robbers. Now that felt the equivalent of saying how he lured a bunny into a box trap.   
"Give me one second..." The hero took a good minute trying to think back, there had to be something he did that would get these kids excited...  
WAIT, There was that one time!  
Mysterion smiled sinisterly.  
"How would you kids like to hear about the time I fought cthulhu?"   
Butters and Dougie were already sold, their eyes grew big with fear but anticipation. Scott was already leaning back and forth in excitement for the story Mysterion had in store for them, and even Thomas was standing at attention now! “Wh-what happened there?” He asked curiously.  
This was going to be one hell of a story.

"Well you see, it all started when me and some of my super pals were still a team."  
"Whoa, you had a team!?" Dougie was already astounded. Mysterion had his own justice league!? How much cooler could he get?  
The vigilante chuckled as he nodded. "Yes, I was part of team. We called ourselves the freedom pals."  
There was soon a sharp gasp.  
"Dougie can you stop acting like a girl so Mysterion can finish?" Butters sighed, embarrassed by his friend's fangirling.   
"Now where was I? Oh yeah! When me and my friends were still a team, we were a pretty good group of superheroes! Everyone got along great, except for one."   
"Who was it?" Butters asked, a little hint of worry in his voice.  
"He went by the name The Coon." The man had a spooky tone when he said the name.  
"The Coon was the fattest, most selfish, and most greediest person in the group. He was a brat; a total dick one might say. He was so despicable, he even attacked one of our own teammates out of spite."   
"Oh golly!" Butters already didn't like the sound of this guy, what kind of big bully would hurt one of their own friends!?  
“Man! He already sthoundsth awful! You should have taught him the sthame lessthon you taught that sixth grader earlier!” Scott put up his fist the same way Mysterion held up Clyde awhile ago, replaying the scene in his head.  
“But wait... what doesth that guy have to do with that uh, Cuh-thulu guy?”   
"Well you see, a there was an accident that led to a giant crack being broken in the ocean floor that led to Chuthulu being awaken, causing chaos around the world."  
"Wait, Chuthulu isn't, like...some normal bad guy?" That made Dougie start to feel nervous, to think this Chuthulu wasn't just another Lex Luther or a Joker.  
Mysterion shook his head. "Nope. Chuthulu was a demonic tentacled beast that, when summoned, would bring death upon any unfortunate soul."   
"Goodness!" Butters could just imagine what the hideous beat looked like, which only made him even more scared. He hugged himself, hoping it wasn't easy to tell he was shaking.   
"Yeah, Chuthulu isn't a creature right minded people would never want to meet! Unfortunately...The Coon's head was a mess. You see, after he attacked our friend, it was the final straw. We all decided he was far from a moral team player. And for that, we kicked him off the team. Well, little did we know what consequences that would later lead to. For after his banishment, The Coon grew so mad, he decided to team up with the demon, and help the beast cause even more chaos on the world."  
”FUCK!” While the other three kids reacted in fear, anger, and anything in between, Thomas looked almost skeptical.   
But before he could ask any questions, Scott interjected with, “Isth that guy crazy?! What the heck kind of hero would wanna desthtroy the world with a big giant demon?! He sthoundsth like more than justht a bully, he’sth a villain!!”  
"Oh, he's a villain alright." Mysterion paused for a minute, remembering that awful day. All the chaos, his friends crying, fearing their own demise. Coon destroying and killing anything and anyone that was in eyesight, still believing he was a good guy. 

"So-so what happened next?" Butters was a shaking mess at this point, but his curiosity got the best of him.   
"Of course, me and the Freedom Pals were going to go out to stop him. Unfortunately, Coon found us first. He teleported us to a whole new dimension. This one was some kind nightmare, hellish creatures everywhere!"   
Dougie was beginning to show signs of fear now, the talk of demon creatures seemed to be getting to him.  
"H-How did you guys get out?" He stuttered.  
"Well, let's just say...I was willing to sacrifice myself to get the others home." The man would rather not go into those details. That part was definitely not enjoyable.   
"Long story short, we were able to get back to our world and defeat both Chuthulu and Coon.”  
“Woooow...” The freckled brunette boy’s mouth was agape in amazement. “That’sth amazing!!! Thanks for sthaving the world with those Freedom guysth and sthtuff, Mysthterion!!” He applauded excitedly. “That mustht have been pretty sthcary.”  
The other blonde that wasn’t a shaking ball of anxiety (for once) raised an eyebrow, however. “Are.. demons and stuff actually real? And how did you sacrifice yourself when you’re— BULLSHIT still here?”  
That was the last question the masked hero was expecting, especially from someone so small and who hasn't been as talkative through the whole thing.  
"Well pal, There's a lot of unknown forces out there. You'd be quite surprise what kind of stuff can happen, especially in South Park. Heck, I wouldn't believe it myself and I actually experienced it all pretty much everyday!" The man could've told them about the time he and his friends met aliens or how they fought the creator of Facebook, or god forbid how satan himself fought a manbearpig!  
But...just thinking about it all now sounded like a fever dream. Besides, those days weren't exactly good memories. They almost never worked out in his favor, which made the child's next question harder to explain.  
"I...I...ummm...You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Trust me, it hard to explain honestly. But just know, it really freaking hurt."   
His own friends didn't believe him, why expect different from a bunch of children?  
Scott held a hand up. “You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to, Mysthterion! I don’t like remembering thingsth that hurted me either... I’m justht really glad you really are asth cool as we thought you were gonna be!”   
"Yeah, we wouldn't want you remembering bad times!" Butters added in. "I'm glad you and your friends made it safely though!"  
“Yeah! I wanna be justht asth heroic asth you one day!!“ Scott grinned up at Mysterion and gave him a thumbs up.   
The man couldn't help but smile. These kids were pretty considerate at such a young age! He was glad he didn't have to explain what happened that day. It was definitely one of the most painful days.   
"You kids are already on your ways to being pretty good heroes yourself!"   
Dougie's eyes brighten up immediately, him? A superhero? To think, maybe he could be the next Teen Titans, or...Mysterion's Robin? Wait, really? “You really think we could be superheroes!?"   
The hero chuckled when he saw the child's excitement.  
"Why not? You're good kids! Grow a little more, train a little, and you’re on your way! And hey, maybe you guys will make a better Freedom Pals.”   
Before Mysterion knew it, Scott got up off of his cape and ran over to hug the hero’s leg, jumping up and down as he did. “Yesth, yesth, yesth! Thank you, Mysthterion!! We promisthe not to ever let you down!” He said, as if Mysterion’s words were everything he ever needed to hear. And for all he knows, they might just have been.  
The sudden child wrapped around his leg made the man jump for a second, but he immediately calmed down, giving the brunette's hair a ruffle.  
"I know you won't kiddo. Y'all gonna be the best crime fighters ever!"  
Dougie was next, he hopped onto Mysterion's other leg.  
"I'll be the strongest one! I'm gonna train super hard and then, maybe I could defeat The Coon too!"  
Butters ran over to join the chatter.  
"I'll be the best leader ever! I'm gonna fly super duper high! And shoot electricity! And even have super hamsters!"  
The thought of Butters and hamsters flying across town made the hero laugh, as he grabbed the little blonde in one arm.  
"Glad to see you boys enthusiastic about being South park's new crime fighters." It was rather sweet. It made something happen in Mysterion's heart it felt weird… yet, strangely nice!  
Still a little confused, Thomas just continued to stay at his spot on the cape. He decided not to question Mysterion's story any further. It did seem to inspire Butters, Dougie, and Scott, so that's all that mattered.   
He, however, knew there was no way he could ever picture someone like him saving the day and stopping crime. Not in a thousand years. So he was a little down on that, but at least stood up from his spot so he wouldn't seem too out of place.  
Meanwhile, the other boys continued discussing their potential powers. "I think my sthuperpower would be like, sthuper sthtrength! Or the power to get all muscthly and sthtuff! Like the hulk!" Scott flexed his arms triumphantly, showing off what little muscle his 6-year-old body had.  
Mysterion did his best to look amazed at the little noodle arm Scott was showing off.  
"Wow! You really are a tough fella aren't ya? Just imagine how much stronger you can get in a few more years!"   
Why not boost the kid's confidence?  
"Scottie will be our muscle! He's gonna clobber anyone who messes with us!" Butters giggled, hopping about in the hero's arm. It was then he noticed Thomas. He was about to call for him but then stopped himself.  
He soon sat up a little straighter so he could whisper in Mysterion's ear. The hero listened carefully, then nodded. He then walked over to the other blonde child before lifting him up in his other arm.  
"Main rule of being a hero is to never doubt yourself." He said, giving the child a little smile.  
The scooped-up child couldn't even think of a proper reaction. How did Mysterion know what he was thinking? Was mind-reading his superpower?  
He looked down at the ground. It took him a moment before he finally replied with, "Thanks, but.. I don't think-- sh-SHIT I would be a good hero anyway... I-I know you guys are gonna make better ones though."  
"Well I mean I'D make the best one!" Dougie said proudly. "Since Butters can fly and Scott has strength, I'll have telekinesis! This team will be the best with me on it!" The redhead said with triumph.  
"Hey." Butters said sternly "This team will be the best cause we're all in it! And that includes you Thomas!"   
The small blonde looked over at his nervous companion. "We need you Thomas! How can we be the next super friends without all of our friends being there?" Butters gave him a thumbs up. "I know you'll be the best hero ever!"   
“It wouldn’t be asth fun without you, stho join usth! Pleeeasthe? We can help you figure out a sthuperpower and everything!” Scott put his hands on his hips, looking confident in his statement, hoping it helps convince Thomas further.  
At first, it looked like Thomas, once again, wasn’t going to reply at all. But he couldn’t help but smile at the hero and his best friends encouraging him to join them. He still didn’t think he was as capable as the rest, but hearing how much they wanted to include him… He couldn’t just let them down.  
“I guess.. SHIT I guess I’ll try.”   
"YAY!" Butters happily cheered, clapping happily.  
"Glad you you on the team Thomas. Now we don't have to have tryouts for the fourth hero." Dougie said, though he was more than glad Thomas had agreed to join the team.

Seeing the boys give Thomas confidence made the vigilante feel proud. So young, yet already showing great signs of becoming amazing future heroes.  
"Trying is all anyone can ask. No one starts out as a good hero. Not all great heroes were best at the beginning."  
"Even you?" Butters asked, surprise in his eyes.  
Mysterion nodded.  
"You don't think I just woke up one day and became a hero do you?"  
"Well… actually… yeah." Dougie had no shame in admitting it.  
"Hate to break it to ya kiddos, but ol Mysterion wasn't exactly hero material in the beginning. Believe it or not, I was scared, afraid I wouldn't be able to live up to being the crime fighter you see now."  
Giving a few pats to the heroes back, Scott said, “That’sth okay! People do sthay that heroesth aren’t born. They’re made!”   
He then looked up at Thomas. “We gotta figure out what kind of sthuperpowersth to give you later, Thomas!”  
“I guess so..” He replied. He never took it into consideration before, so it might not be easy.  
"Hmmm Now what could Thomas be?" Butters began to focus.  
"Maybe he's a healer!" Dougie chimed in.  
"Or maybe he could like be the really sneaky one or-or like he could be a cyborg! Beep beep, I am RoboThomas!" Butters added doing his best impression of a robot.  
Thomas giggles at Butters’ robot impression. “Those all sound cool, but— COCK SHIT I don’t think I’d be really good at sneaking or being a robot..” The healer didn’t sound like too much of terrible of an idea, but he still wasn’t sure 100%.  
"Or...what if he's good with like explosions?" Dougie suggested.  
"You mean like bombs and stuff?" Butters questioned, unfamiliar with the word.  
The redhead nodded  
"Yeah! Like, he can use bombs like-like those ummm...people who are good at throwing things."  
"You mean a ranger?" Mysterion chimed in.  
"Not a power ranger silly!" Butters laughed, shaking his head. "You knucklehead, there wasn't even a bomb power ranger! You really must be old to think that!"   
The hero looked at the child for a minute before rolling his eyes. "Yep, how old of me to think that."  
Thomas didn’t look to keen on the explosions idea either. He didn’t want to be that intense of a superhero! That sounded more like an ability that a villain would possess anyway.  
"That’s okay! We’ll find somethin’ for ya eventually, Thomas!" No matter what choice he made, Butters was just more than thrilled by the fact that Thomas was actually giving this hero idea a try.  
Dougie finally released the hero's leg.  
"Yes! We got our team together! Now all we need is a team name. ‘Super friends’ just doesn't sit right." Call him nitpicky, but all super hero teams needed a totally cool name that sticks well.  
Silence filled the room for mere moments as the boys pondered a name for their new-found hero team.  
Scott snapped his fingers. “I got it! Insthtead of sthuper friendsth... How about ‘Sthuper BESTHT friendsth’?!”   
The boys just kind of looked at each other.  
Thomas raised an eyebrow and said, “Isn’t that just— FUCK adding another word to the name we didn’t want before?”  
“W-well, I mean... Yeah. I guessth.” He put a hand to his chin. “..... Oh! About ‘The Freedom Fightersth’?!”  
“Scott, that’s from Sonic The Hedgehog.” Dougie said.  
“... DANGIT.” The brunette crossed his arms. “You guysth are killing me here!”  
"Hmmmm..." Butters thought long and hard, what could their name be? It had to be something good. Something that really represented what their team is about...  
"I GOT IT!" The blonde blurted out, which made the redhead companion next to him jump.   
"Well, what do you got?" Dougie said trying to not look as if Butters yelling actually scared him.  
"Okay Okay. How about this... Friends United Crime Knocked out!" The boy grinned from ear to ear awaiting for a reply.  
Mysterion blinked, replaying the words in his head. Then it hit him.  
"I-I don't know if that one will wor--"  
"I don't know, I like it!" Dougie interrupted. "It's original at least! And I think people would enjoy saying it a lot!"  
You have no idea kid..." The hero thought, face palming himself. He dreaded hearing the other two's responses.  
Unfortunately, Thomas looked all for that idea. “Hm.. I like it too! A-a little long, maybe, but if we can’t think of anything else, that’s what we can call it for now! Like a, uh... like.. SHIT, a placeholder! Yeah.” He had a hard time figuring out the word he was looking for.  
For a moment was a beacon hope. Scott didn’t look as impressed by the idea as the other three boys did. “Hmmm... Now, hang on... I dunno, Buttersth. Sthomething about that name doesthn’t sthit well with me...”   
Oh, was he thinking what Mysterion was thinking?  
“Why isth it called ‘Friendsth United Crime Knocked out’ when it should be ‘Friendsth United Crime Knockout’? It think that would work better! That way, it sthoundsth more like we’re knocking out crime, and not fighting crime while knocked out!”  
Nope. He missed it entirely.  
"Oh golly, you're right Scottie! Man, our name would've sounded so ridiculous!" The small blonde chirped.  
The vigilante facepalmed himself again, harder this time.  
"Welp, seems we off to a good start!" Dougie clasped his hands together  
"Now all we need are super cool costumes and then we--"

"DOUGIE, IT'S GETTING LATE, TELL YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS IT'S TIME TO GO HOME!"   
The nerdy child immediately frowned.  
"Oh, shoot! That's mom! We gotta go!" He stomped his foot angrily.  
"Gosh darn it, now the day wants to go by quickly when we're finally having fun! Why didn't it do it when the sixth graders hunted us down to give us swirlies that one time!?"  
“Awww... I wish we could sthtay longer!” He whined, clearly disappointed. None of them even realized how much time passed! “Wait! Mysthterion! Are we ever gonna sthee you again? Even if the sixth gradersth sthtop bullying us?? You’re gonna come visthit usth again, right???” The brunette shot questions at the hero left and right.   
None of them wanted this to just be a once-in-a-lifetime meet-up!  
The man gave the child a smile. "Don't worry kiddo, I'll be around!" It was honest and they couldn't overthink it.  
"He'll definitely be around! Just another reason why he's the best!" Butters giggled, giving the hero a hug.   
"Before we go...Are...Are you sure we can't just say we're at least buds?" Dougie had pleading eyes. How he wanted to just rub it in Clyde's face that he could no longer mess with em cause they got full hero protection. Or at least score some girls for knowing the hero!  
"Dougie, wouldn't it be better to be able to know Mysterion without having a bunch of people bug you about him?" Butters asked, obviously annoyed his friend still wanted to flaunt his privilege.  
The more he thought about it, the more The redhead realized how bothersome it would get, for both him and Mysterion. People trying to be in their faces, begging for autographs or a picture. The hero would never have time to play again!   
The child finally came to a conclusion. "On second thought… I can always brag in my mind."  
Thomas nodded as he was soon set back down on the ground. “Alright. Thanks again for helping us today, COCKSUCKER— I-I mean, Mysterion.” He said, embarrassed.  
Scott hugged Mysterion one last time before heading out towards the outside of the house. “Yeah! Thanksth a lot! Sthee you around! Come on, guysth! I don’t Dougie’sth mom to get mad at usth for taking too long!”  
"Uh yeah, you and me both." Dougie stated as he rushed the others out.  
"See you later, Mysterion! Make sure no one sees you when you leave. Can't have people knowing about our secret base!"  
The hero nodded in understanding. "Oh of course, that would just be a shame if people found out about this!" Psssh, please, if he could he'd get a bulldozer himself and tear this deathtrap apart. Make them an actual fort.  
Actually… Hmmm. ‘Wonder if Stan's doing anything later on.’ The man thought. Though he was soon interrupted by another hug.  
"You're the best!" Butters said hugging Mysterion's leg tightly. "I'm so glad I met you!"  
The hero smiled brightly, giving the little blonde's hair a ruffle. "I'm glad I met you too, pal." There was that fuzzy feeling in his chest again.  
‘Remember, don't get attached!’  
The vigilante soon gave the child a gentle push to the door.  
"Alright, time for you kids to go home." He quickly said.

Now that all 4 boys scampered off, that left Mysterion completely alone in the hideout. Once he was certain the boys wouldn't pop back in, the man unpeeled his mask as he let out a deep sigh. “Well, this went just great.”   
The blonde rubbed a hand through his hair. “What on earth are you doing, man?”   
To think, he was just supposed to help with Clyde. How did this end with telling stories and helping create aspiring superhero teams?   
“Dammit Ken, you can't keep doing this! You can't get attached, you just can't!”  
The man let his arms fall in defeat. “You know it's for the best.”   
It wouldn't be good for Butters to get attached as well. Kenny was not afraid to admit he wasn't the best of role models. Sure, Mysterion was, but him? He was just a nobody, struggling to scrape up money to eat and keep living in a shitty apartment. Butters shouldn't be looking up to someone like that, right?   
And yet...Butters was so happy? He was proud, not just of the hero...but of Ken. He wasn't just saying he was glad he got to meet Mysterion, he was saying that about the man behind the mask.  
“Oh god.” Kenny began to laugh. “That Butters is a strange child...but...that's what makes him great.”  
So much for not getting attached again.


	8. Eye'll drink to that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After today, it's time for Kenny to meet up with some friends

It was going on 7 when Kenny finally left the park. With his costume in hand, he opened his car door, ready to head on out when he saw his phone light up.  
“What the hell?” He unlocked the phone only to be bombarded with missed calls and text messages. All from one person with the contact name FATASS.  
“For crying out loud, what the fuck does he want?” The man rolled his eyes before noticing a voicemail. Regrettably, he tapped on it.  
[“KINNY WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!? WE BEEN PLANNING TO GO OUT ALL WEEK! YOUR POOR ASS BETTER NOT BE TRYING TO SKIP OUT ON US TO LOOK AT FUCKING TITS AND MASTURBATE AGAIN! YOU BETTER BE AT SKEETER’S OR I SWEAR TO GOD!”]  
Ken huffed when the message ended.  
“Didn't even offer to pay for the drinks...”  
With a sigh, he hopped into his car, tossing the phone over to the passenger seat.  
“Alright. Might as well get this over with.”  
The truck was soon backed out of the parking lot and heading on down the street. 

Upon arriving at his apartment and getting his costume hung up, Ken took a minute to tidy the place up. If by chance he had any “guests” come over after tonight, he wanted to make a good first impression. And that would be hard to do with 2 day old cereal lying around.  
Once he was sure there was no sign of stains or dirty clothes, it was going on 9. “Let me get ready before Jabba the Hutt gets pissed and eats me.” With that being said, Ken ran off to the back to get ready.  
It was now a quarter ‘till 10. Kenny was freshened up and wearing a light blue suit. Flipping up his collar, the man took the time to admire himself in his phone's camera.  
“Shower? Check. Cologne? Check. Totally handsome guy ready to score tonight? Double check.”  
He grinned smugly, tucking the phone in his pocket. He grabbed his orange parka and headed back out the door.

Lucky for him, Skeeters’ bar wasn't a long walk from his place. Plus, it was rather nice outside tonight. Which was why Kenny decided to go ahead and walk there.  
“I'm late anyways. Might as well enjoy the night sky before Cartman kills me.”  
In reality, it should've taken no more than 10 minutes to get to Skeeters. Maybe even 6 if he just crossed through some yards. But Ken was in no rush, taking in every scenery, stopping to say hi to folks that walked by, even at one point dancing about in the street.  
He was feeling rather good tonight. Today went rather good, and tonight would surely end up greater!  
There was no crime, no bullies, and no ki--  
“KENNY!”

The man stopped in his tracks hearing that familiar little voice. With a small smile, Kenny turned around, already prepared to greet the little blonde. “You came early today! You trying to see Mysterion in action--?”  
Kenny’s smile disappeared when Butters drew closer. The child looked like he was in the middle of running for his life. The little blonde was practically gasping for air as he hugged Ken's leg tightly.  
“Ke-Kenny!” He sputtered, sniffling away as he began to shake, burying his face into the light blue pants leg.  
The taller blonde was already in full concern as he quick bent down and hugged the child.  
“Shhh, calm down, Butters. What’s the matter, buddy?”  
After a few deep breaths, Butters finally revealed his face. Upon seeing it, Kenny's eyes grew wide with horror.  
The child's right eye was a pure blackish purple. His lip was swollen, definitely busted up. Butters looked like he was struggling to stand up straight; his legs were completely weak and shaking. God, he looked like he just got mugged!  
Cupping the child’s cheeks in his hands. Ken looked him in the eyes.  
“Butters, Who did this to you?” The man didn't even know his voice was shaking. Seeing the squirt so beat up made him want to cry; to hunt down the bastard that did this.  
Butters just looked, his lips quivering as if he wanted to tell so badly.  
“Butters, please answer me!” Ken was like a frantic mother now. Seeing the child like this was too much to bear without being able to help.  
Finally the child began to sputter.  
“I-I...I don't wanna go home Kenny! Can-Can I stay at you house tonight? Please!”  
The boy looked at the man with terrified eyes of baby blue. Which only made Ken's heart hurt more.  
“Dude, of course you can! Let's get you there now, bud.”  
To hell with getting drunk. Taking off his parka, Kenny wrapped it around Butters until he was just a ball of orange.  
Gently picking up the bundle, the taller blonde made a mad dash back to his place.

It was going on midnight now. Butters was still wrapped in the orange parka, struggling to sleep. His eyes were shut tight as he grumbled and squirmed.  
Everytime the child made a peep, Kenny was ready to rock him His eyes wondering the room, holding the bundle close to him as if he was waiting for someone to steal the child away.  
The whole time he was caring for Butters, his phone blared. It's light luminous in the dark as it rang what seem to be every 30 seconds.  
Everytime he heard it, the man scowled. While he did feel bad about flaking out, this was obviously far more important than getting drunk and getting some chicks. Of course Kyle would understand… But he knew another one in particular wouldn't have cared. Wouldn't have even acknowledged the fact that there was an injured child in his arms. Heck, he would have ignored the child's pleads for help and still insist they just go to Skeeters’.  
And it was that particular person that was probably the one that kept calling. While also sending text after text which probably contained at least 5 profanities in each one.  
But that didn't matter to Ken though. There was only one thing on his mind.  
He soon looked down at the bundle in his arms.  
Butters had officially calmed down now. The puffiness from his eyes was disappearing as he was now fully asleep. The child soon snuggled more into the jacket, letting out a small exhale as he was now perfectly comfortable.  
Ken probably would've smiled at the adorable sight, if he didn't have to also look at that big purple spot that was once Butters innocent little right eye, full of life and kindness. Everytime Kenny looked at it his teeth gritted in anger and pain.  
He didn't need a psychic to know what had happened. It was written all over the boy's face, Quite literally actually. Oh how Ken wanted to just run over to Butters house and just unleash a can of whoopass. But even it wasn't for the chance of getting jailed, Butters needed him really badly at the moment.  
Just when it seem like the kid was finally resting peacefully, a nightmare had formed. Causing the child to talk in his slumber as he twisted and squirmed.  
“I’m sorry….I'll be good...I'm sorry, I'm sorry…”  
It was just making Ken's anger reduce more to sadness, wishing he could just pick up Butters and never have to let him go back to that hell house.  
Sadly, it could be quite some time before that happens. In the meantime...he was here, and Kenny was going to make sure no one was going to lay a finger on him.

By 2 am the two were both now fast asleep. The tv had shut off meaning it was a rather peaceful night in the house. Until…  
“KINNY, KINNY, I KNOW YOUR ASS UP! OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR YOU BUTT FUCKING TRAITOR!”  
It was like a maniac was on the other side of the door as they continued to scream, pounding on the door as if they were the cops.  
The sudden uproar made Ken spring up with a yelp, his eyes darted all over the room wildly. He was completely discombobulated as his eyes were still blurry, having a hard time focusing in the dark. Meanwhile Butters was completely undisturbed, letting out a little yawn as he was still deep in slumber.  
Kenny gently put the child down on the couch to avoid waking him up, quickly using the hood of his parka to cover his face. After that he quickly stomped his way to door.  
“Is he fucking crazy? At this time at night!?” The man thought as he practically jerked open the door.  
“What the fuck do you want Cartman?” He hissed.

There in the doorway stood a rather large man. Behind him stood Kyle who was holding on to another rather skinny fella with a red puff ball hat.  
“Oh I'm SO sorry Kinny! Are we disturbing your precious date with magazine tiddies?”  
The fat man scoffed before pushing pass Kenny into the living room.  
Kyle strolled in awkwardly, struggling to carry the blue hat other guy who looked like he was about to pass out any second. The green hat man didn't even look like he wanted to be here.  
Ken growled, eyeballing his new guests.  
Meanwhile Cartman had already made his way into the kitchen scanning the cupboards and fridge.  
“Damn Kinny, I didn't think you'd still be this poor! You don't even got Ramen up in this bitch!” He whined, soon scanning the top of the refrigerator.  
The fat man finally saw a box of count chocula. Grabbing the whole box, he made his way to the couch. Tipping the whole box over, cereal bounced left and right as only a few were able to make it into his gaping mouth.  
The blonde's eye twitched as he watched his friend chomp down on his cereal. There were a lot of things Kenny would have said if Butters wasn't in the room as well. Instead he pinched the bridge of his nose.  
“It is 2 in the GODDAMN morning! What could you possibly need at this time of night!?”  
Cartman took a good minute to swallow 2 more mouth full of cereal before replying.  
“Weeeeell, the most important thing I NEED to know, is why the fuck your ass was the only one not at Skeeters. I thought you of all people would be there! Even the jew emerged from his cave!”  
Hearing this, Kyle immediately flipped Cartman off.  
“Fuck you fatass” He simply retorted. The redhead seemed too tired to come up with a better comeback at the moment as he tried to prop their drunk companion up on the couch.  
Kenny let out a tired sigh, he knew this question would come up...he just wished it wasn't at this time at his place.  
“Look, I'm sorry okay? Something just...something came up alright?”  
He probably should have came clean then, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted Cartman of all people to know about Butters just yet.  
“Oh please, You? Having anything better to do? You were suppose to be my wingman! You think I can pick up bitches with Khal the killjoy and his sidekick Stan the sad sack of shit!?” He pointed a finger at Kyle and Stan  
“Leave him alone fatass, he said he had something to do” Kyle defended Ken, for he was willing to forgive. He didn't even want to come in the first place. He was practically dragged down there by the other two.  
Cartman however just snorted.  
“Oh please! You don't really think Kinny had anything IMPORTANT to do, let alone do anything besides getting bitches do you? Hell, maybe he didn't come cause he already got a chick here. Amirite Kinny? You got a fine thing in the back?”  
God, now that there was a child in the room, it made Ken cringe talking about this. Even if Butters was asleep the last thing he needed was the child to wake up and here Cartman talking about boobs.  
“Hey you wanna not do this right now?”  
Ken pleaded, looking at the bundled jacket on the couch.  
Butters was a deeper sleeper then he thought! The jacket had yet to stir about. But that didn't mean he was in the clear just yet.  
Just as Cartman was about to retort.  
“Dude, Stan get off me!”  
Stan was having a hard sitting up right, he was slumped all over Kyle, who was furiously trying to push him off.  
“I'm sORry DuDe I ThiNK I nEEd to--” All of sudden his cheeks puffed up. The mintue Kyle saw that, he began to panic.  
“STAN I SWEAR, IF YOU PUKE ON ME YOU'RE DEAD” Now he really was desperate to get away from the man, mashing his hand in raven haired man's face.  
After a few more shoves, the red head was finally get free. Standing up and brushing himself off in a huff as he glared down at his friend.  
“Can you guys be any louder!?” Kenny snapped, looking between the three. He didn't need this, not tonight.  
“Look, I know your pissed off and shit, but I seriously can't do this tonight. So how about you leave so you can cuss me out tomorrow? Come on, I'll even show you how to get the fu--”  
All of a sudden, Stan doubled over. “GURK--”  
Ken looked in horror at the man.  
“Stan don't you DARE! Do you know how long it'll take me to get that stain out!?” The blonde could only look in horror as Stan continued to gag.  
Cartman looked over at the scene. Rolling his eyes, the brunette gave a wave of his hand.  
“Stan, just barf in his jacket, you can't do anymore damage to that thing”  
The idea alone was enough to make Kenny facepalm himself, but his annoyance quickly turned into shock and horror the minute he saw Stan actually reaching for his jacket!  
“NOOOOOO” Just as Stan was inches away from grabbing the orange parka Kenny made a beeline for it. He was able to scoop it up just in time, cradling the jacket in his arms. He soon gave a death stare. “DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HIM” He snapped.

After that, the room went quiet. No one made a sound. Ken still had a wild look in his eyes as he looked at the three, who in return looked back at him with a look of confusion and concern.  
It was Cartman who soon broke the silence, as he cleared his throat.  
“Well you guys, it seems Kinny's jacket is a HE now. And it appears they have a special relationship. That's probably why he didn't come to Skeeters”  
After a few deep breaths, Kenny's eyes were filled with guilt, as he now looked at his friends hurt expressions.  
“Wait...No, I didn't...It's just--” Dammit...Should he just fess up? They'd have to find out eventually right? But at the same time they were drunk and maybe not in the right condition to comprehend what was going on. Well...except Kyle of course...Wait, Kyle!  
The blonde quickly whipped his gaze to the redhead.  
“Kyle, can I see you in the back for a second?”  
The sudden question threw Kyle for a loop, but he nodded his head.  
“Ummm, sure!” As the two started to make their way to the hallway, a whistle soon came from Cartman's direction.  
“UH OH, KINNY AND KHAL ABOUT TO HAVE SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN!”  
That comment made both Kyle and Kenny freeze up as both of their faces turned bright red. The two both gave Cartman the finger.  
“Fuck off Fatass!” Kyle hissed, before following Ken into the hallway.

The two went deep in there, making sure there was no way for Cartman to peek in at them.  
“Okay dude, what did you want?” Kyle asked once they were fully sure they were in the clear.  
With a sigh, Kenny lifted the hoodie up to reveal Butters little face. “Oh, so Butters came again?” Kyle at this point was getting use to this, he didn't see what the big deal was.  
That was before Kenny pulled out his phone and shined the light on the child.  
“Yeah he came...but not cause he was just wandering outside…”  
Confused, Kyle squinted his eyes, trying to understand what Kenny meant by that. But the minute he saw the blackened eye, he had to quickly cover his mouth to avoid letting out a loud gasp.  
His surprise soon turned into anger and sadness.  
“Who the hell did this to him!?”  
“Take a wild guess” Ken said in a low, hate filled voice.  
“Dude…”  
Kyle soon studied the eye.  
“It's really swollen…This had to happen not too long ago.”  
“Yeah, he literally just ran up to me crying just as I was leaving the house, it had to happen at least around that time.”  
Looking at Butters in this condition was just making Kyle more angry, balling and unballing his fist. He looked like he wanted to cuss, to drive all the way to the Stotch's house to give them a piece of his mind. He soon looked up at Kenny.  
“Do you have any ice and a cloth?”  
“What?”  
“That's how you treat a black eye. Now do you have those things?”  
“Ummm…I think I got a clean cloth...there might be some ice in the freezer….I can't be sure” It wasn't that he couldn't afford it, Kenny just wasn't much of a ice person.  
Kyle soon turned to head back to the living room.  
“I'll go check the fridge, you get a cloth or a bag that can hold it”  
Kenny gave a nod, and with that the two parted. Kyle making a mad dash for the freezer, Kenny heading straight into his room.

Gently putting the sleeping boy on his bed, Ken begin his search. He looked desperately for a walmart bag or something. Flinging clothes and other junk left and right as he desperately looked. There was no clean rag...he really should of washed these. There wasn't even a bag!  
“No...No...No...Dammit! Why don't I save those Walmart bags?!” He felt so hopeless as he sat on his bed  
“Kyle will be back any minute...and I have nothing to put the ice in!” He was about to punch his pillow out of frustration before he stopped.  
“Wait a second…” He grabbed the pillow, and looked over it. The pillowcase...could...could it work? It was a little big...but it could surely hold the ice! Besides, not that Ken needed to use it so badly tonight. It was worth a try! Shaking the pillow out, Kenny grabbed the pillowcase before making his way out of his room. Just in time as Kyle came back panting, his hands full of chunked ice.  
“I couldn't find ice cubes...but some of the frozen foods you had in the back had all kinds of ice and icicles on it.”  
He held it out for Ken to see.  
“Did you find a bag or cloth?”  
“Wellll…” Ken soon held up the pillowcase, giving a sheepish smile.  
Kyle was not amused, as he looked between the pillowcase and Kenny.  
“Really dude?”  
“Look, I really tried okay? This was the best I could do at short notice!”  
The redhead rolled his eyes before shaking his head.  
“God...it'll have to do. This ice is making my hands go numb! Just hold it open will you?”  
Kenny did what he was told, holding the case wide open as Kyle did his best to pour the ice into its gaping mouth.  
Luckily, he was able to get every piece in. Tying the case up tightly so nothing could spill out, He soon took a second to look at their work.  
The bottom part pillowcase was completely lumpy, as ice clacked around in it. He cringed a little at their final results.  
“It'll have to do...Now where's Butters?”  
“He's in my room, come on”  
With that being said, the two headed into Ken's room.

Once they were both in, Kenny locked the door, not trusting Cartman or a drunk Stan to barge in. Once that was done, him and Kyle both went over to the bed where the orange bundle laid. Ken picked the bundle up, cradling it close as he looked at the sleeping child within it.  
Butters really was a deep sleeper. Or maybe all the shit that went down really tuckered him out.  
Either way, it was probably best he stayed asleep.  
Kyle picked up the pillowcase.  
“Okay, hold him still. I'm gonna have to put this on his eye for a minute”  
Though he was uncertain, Ken knew Kyle was fully aware of what he was doing, so he did what he was told with no questions asked.  
With a deep breath, he tightened his grip on Butters a little, giving the tyke a gentle rock to prevent any sign of him waking up.  
Ever so slowly, Kyle then proceeded to put the pillowcase of ice on Butters black eye.  
The sudden sting made the child immediately yelp as he began to squirm, letting out a small whine of discomfort. It pained Kenny to see the child upset, but he didn't loosen his grip, softly shushing the tot. “Shhhh, It's okay little buddy…you're alright.”  
It was good they already had him wrapped in the jacket so he couldn't struggle as much for the cold, now wet pillowcase on his eye was not pleasant to the little blonde. He'd occasionally start opening and closing his eyes, to which Kyle would immediately take the ice off his eye as he and Ken would quickly start trying to lull him back to sleep. Ken would rock him while Kyle softly sung the lullaby his mom sang to him as a child. This lasted for a good twenty minutes before Kyle decided to call it a night.  
“We should probably do this when he's fully awake...it should at least stop the swelling for the night though.” He let out a sigh as he looked down at Butters.  
“It's just so fucked up...Butters is such a good kid! How messed up does a person have to be to want to do this to a child?”  
Thinking about it only pissed off Kenny. It was fucked...Butters didn't deserve this...why did his own parents do this to him?  
“I don't know...and I don't care. What matters is putting a stop to it as soon as possible.”  
The man let brushed a little little bit of Butters hair out of his face, now being able to get a great look at the shiner he had. Seeing that black eye made his stomach twist in knots.  
It was quiet for a bit, both men seemed to be deep in thought, before Kyle let put a gasp.  
“Wait! Kenny, I got an idea!”  
The redhead grabbed his phone and quickly aimed the camera len at Butters.  
“Kyle what are you--”  
Soon there was flash, making both Kenny and Butters flinch a little.  
The redhead quickly scrolled through his phone.  
“I got it!”  
“Got what exactly?” Kenny had no idea what that was all about. He was still rather dazed after being hit by the sudden flash.  
“Dude, Kenny don't you see? We got a little bit of proof now!”  
“I still don't think I'm following ya…”  
Kyle rolled his eyes at his friend's cluelessness.  
“Kenny, it's like what Tweek said, we need proof if we ever want this to end!"  
Ken thought about it for a second, but he was finally catching on.  
"Ahh, I get it now! But...this surely isn't enough proof to put that asshole in prison"  
"Baby steps Kenny, we'll get there one day! For now, at least we got something. And when Butters is ready, he'll be able to speak out and help us even more."  
Ken let out a sigh as he looked down at the boy.  
"I sure hope so…"  
Kyle gave the man a soft smile.  
"I know he will Ken"  
The blonde returned the smile, Kyle really has been helpful!  
It was quiet again, the only sound now was Butters softly snoring, now that he could peacefully return back to his slumber.  
Soon, Kyle stood up with a yawn.  
"Well, I'm sure by now the drunk bros have fallen asleep, I better do the same."  
"I wished y'all told me we were having a sleepover, I would have gotten the nail polish ready" he laughed.  
Kyle also snickered, "I wasn't exactly told about it either, I would have brought over some hot guy magazines."  
Man, it felt good to laugh! After tonight, it really did help Kenny relax a bit.  
After a good minute of laughter, Kyle soon headed out the door.  
"Alright, I'm heading to bed, night Kenny!"  
"Night Kyle!"  
And with that, Kyle disappeared into the hallway. Meaning Ken could sleep as well. 

Putting on some pajama bottoms and turning out the light, Ken hopped into bed. But before he got under the covers, he unwrapped Butters from his jacket, placing the child under the covers so he could properly sleep tonight. Tossing the jacket across the room, he could now sleep himself. And that's what he did the minute his head hit the pillow.  
It was around 4am now, when Ken heard the sound of what appeared to be cans.  
"What the hell?" That better be Cartman scavenging for food. Angrily grumbling, Kenny got up, rubbing at his eyes as he went out into the hallway to investigate.  
Peeking into the living the first thing he saw was in fact Cartman, completely passed out on the chair. Stan was too fast asleep, taking over the entire couch. Kyle, sleeping on the floor.  
Well if it wasn't them...then who?  
A feeling of dread was beginning to creep up on Kenny as he peeked into the kitchen.With his heart pounding, He flicked on the light, expecting to see a burglar. But instead, it was a half woke Butters, cans scattered all around him.  
On one hand, sea of relief washed over Kenny, but on the other hand...what the heck was Butters doing?  
"Hey lol bud, why are you awake?" Ken asked as he approached the child.  
Butters didn't even look up at the man.  
"The cans...They aren't organized…"  
"Come again?"  
"The ravioli...it has to be on the second shelf...the vegetables on the first...they can't...be together…gotta...fix it…"  
Oh boy...Ken was just gonna take a while guess and say it was another dumbass thing Butters dad made the poor thing do.  
He didn't say anything else he just scooped Butters into his arms. The child weakly struggled.  
"Nooo, I gotta fix it! I gotta...It's gotta be perfect…" his eyes were already growing heavier.  
"The only thing you need to worry about is getting some more sleep." Ken simply said, as he turned out the light and headed back to his room. This time he closed the door so Butters couldn't try to sneak out again.  
Fortunately, Butters went back to sleep fast. His little snore filled the room.  
Meanwhile Ken was finding it hard to sleep, as a millions thoughts circled his mind. The main one being what Kyle said  
("When Butters is ready, he'll be able to speak out and help us even more.")  
Kenny said he hoped Butters would do it...but he forgot to say he hoped he did it soon.

**Author's Note:**

> To all my Pocket Stan fans, do not worry! I will be finishing that story as well, I just wanted to work on something new UwU


End file.
